Once Upon A Broken Heart: Taking Chances, Book One
by Pearl Bramble of Willowbottom
Summary: When an ordinary college student makes a wish for The Fellowships of the Ring to visit her, Joy gets more than she bargained for and her world is never the same again.
1. Chapter 1: Anticipation

Once Upon A Broken Heart: Taking Chances, Book One

Chapter One-Anticipation

I'd been looking forward to this day all year, and at last, it had come! Today, Saturday, April 2, 2011, I'd be going to the Oklahoma Renaissance Faire! Ever since my family first found out about this festival, we went every year, even last year, when the wind blew and the skies were grey. Sure it was awful weather, but I got a nice fitting black cape to go with my old forest green velvet Juliet Halloween costume, sandals, and small beaded purse.

Don't think that I'm fashion obsessed or anything, I'm not. I just like to look nice and historically accurate. After Mom was in the car, Dad drove off, heading east. Remembering that I didn't have any books, DVD players, CD player or iPods like I usually do, I prepared myself for the half hour long trip to the city.

Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Joy, it's nice to meet you. I've been going to college for four years, living in a shared dorm room during the week at my college and staying home during the weekend. A half hour later, we finally pulled into a parking space and got out of the car.

Grabbing my money, inhaler, cell phone, mascara and lip gloss, I dropped them both into my small beaded purse, and then placed my modern looking purse into the trunk next to my mom's. After locking the trunk, all three of us walked to the faire. As we walked, I noticed other people also dressed in either peasant or rich clothes.

I gave Mom a worried look. She was wearing the colorful peasant dress with a corset around her waist. Praying that I didn't tie Mom's corset too tight, I glanced at Dad, who was only dressed in a white shirt, black pants and black boots.

Shaking my head at my Dad's lack of dressing up for fun, I caught the strains of music coming from up ahead. Smiling in anticipation, I walked a little faster, this would be better than going to the Oklahoma State Fair! I didn't know it at the time, but I was going to be right in more ways than one.


	2. Chapter 2: No Way!

Chapter Two-No Way!

I should have known better than to make a wish. You'd think I would have learned not to do this by now. But no, I just had to make the wish that started the chain of events which would turn everything I knew left about the world completely upside down.

I'd already looked around the faire grounds and the storyteller hadn't come yet, so essentially, I was bored. To make matters worse, I didn't have a book or iPod with me, so I was very bored. Closing my eyes and focusing all my concentration, I made my wish.

"I wish I can meet the characters from The Lord of the Rings," I whispered, fervently. I got the same feeling that I did ten years ago. Something was going to happen soon that was going to change my life.

I didn't know what it was, but I wasn't looking forward to the sudden change. The last time I got a premonition like this, one of my best friends tried to commit suicide. Ever since then, I'd been more careful in trusting people too soon.

Opening my eyes, my heart sank as nothing happened. Well really Joy, what do you expect? I scolded myself. Did you honestly think that the Fellowship would appear right before your eyes the second your wish was made? Yes, a small voice in my head spoke up sadly. You're so naïve, after all this time, you still believe in fairy tales?

A second after I thought this, I was crushed to the grounds repeatedly screaming in pain despite the fact that my face was pressed into the dirt. Whoever did this to me was going to be killed! A second later, I sucked in dirt, just managing to turn my head to the side so I wouldn't die of suffocation.

Okay, when I find out who's purposefully lying on top of me they will die a slow and painful death! After what felt like an hour, but most likely only lasted a few minutes, the pain on my back, arms and legs lifted. Still choking and sputtering, I slowly sat up, resting on my heals, letting the grass and soil dribble out of my mouth.

In moments, hands clapped me on the back, forcing the dirt down my throat. Waving my hands to get the good intentioned people to stop, I finally spat out the last bits of dirt and grass, wheezing and mentally cursing my physical disability.

Digging my inhaler out of my purse, I shook it and breathed in. Nothing happened, no refreshing air swept down my throat. No, I thought in growing panic, no, no, no! Not now, please not now! Don't tell me that I've left my working inhaler in my purse that's in the trunk of my parents car!

"My Lady, are you alright?" a voice from above me asked. I shook my head, not trusting myself to speak.

Okay, okay, calm down Joy, everything will be fine, breathe, just breathe, I thought, running my hands through my hair to keep myself from panicking.

"My Lady, what's wrong?" another concerned voice joined the first.

"What's wrong with her?" a third voice asked worriedly.

"I-can't-breath!" I wheezed.

Cursing my physical disability for the second time in as many minutes that day, I forced myself to breathe deeply. Still sputtering, but able to breathe better, I rose from my knees.

I heard people unsheathe weapons right behind me. Shit, there are strangers with real weapons behind me! I thought, freezing. Turning around very slowly, I came face to face with nine wary males dressed in medieval clothes, all with weapons pointing directly at my face.

For once, I was glad I didn't bring my sword, I would have looked like an idiot if I had been pointing a plastic sword at these strangers who were pointing, what looked like, very real weapons at me. Nobody moved as I tried to figure out how to get myself safely away from these people. Should I make a break for the closet stall and hide?

Or would they be too fast for me and not let me even go to a nearby tent? I slowly began inching to the left of the room, keeping my hands up, palms toward the strangers in the hope that they would understand this gesture. The nine men moved the same direction I was going, still pointing their weapons toward me.

I quickly stopped. I had never worried too much about people bothering me while I was at the Oklahoma Renaissance Fair. If I ever had that problem, all I had to do was call my parents and they'd help out. But this was different.

Thinking I could use my old defense basketball skills I had learned back in elementary school, I faked a right, then dodged left. I only made it a few steps when the nine men corned me again, this time from either side, and looking annoyed as well. Gulping, I froze again. How the hell are you going to get yourself out of this mess Joy, I thought to myself.

"Why do you run from us?" The long blond haired man in the Robin Hood get up asked. I chose not to answer, deciding to keep silent.

"Maybe she's afraid of us," piped up one of the slightly taller men. I nodded, not taking my eyes off the weapons that the nine men were still pointing at me.

"Why are you afraid of us, milady?" A man with curly, greasy brown hair, and piercing grey eyes asked. I didn't dare answer, still trying to figure out why these strangers looked so familiar to me, since I'd never met them.

"Speak up child!" An old man in a grey robe and wooden walking stick demanded, making me jump.

"She's obviously distressed," the brown haired man with piercing grey eyes observed. Scared is more like it, I thought, still watching carefully for any wrong move.

Maybe I should take their weapons away, naw, they might torture me, I thought, shuddering as I imagined swords, arrows, and an axe cutting into me and the old grey man knocking me out with his walking stick.

"Are you cold milady?" The man with greasy brown hair and piercing grey eyes asked me. I hugged my velvet black cloak closer to my body.

"Do you have a name, milady?" The blond haired Robin Hood impersonator asked.

"Yes, it's Joy. What are your names?" Please don't be who I think you are, please, oh, please, oh please, I begged.

"She speaks!" The man with shoulder length blond hair and brown eyes exclaimed.

I glared at the man, I only just met this person, but already hated him. Of course I speak, I thought furiously. Although sometimes I wonder if it would be better if I didn't, I have a soft spoken voice the sound of a whisper, so it's hard for people to hear what I'm saying.

"I am Gandalf the Grey," The grey haired man wearing the grey robe introduced himself.

"It's nice to meet you sir," I replied, still on edge.

"My name is Legolas Greenleaf, Lady Joy." Legolas replied, placing his hand over his heart and bowing toward me. Not sure what to do in this situation, I bowed my head back toward him.

"I'm Gimli son of Glowin, and that's all I'll say you witch!" A red haired and bearded man with glowing black eyes barked at me.

"I'm not a witch," I replied, whimpering slightly at the tone Gimli used to address me. Usually people used that certain tone of voice when I did something wrong. I thought of adding something to Gimli's comment, but, on second thought, pressed my lips together to keep from talking about my obsession with Harry Potter. These guys might think a person that reads books with witchcraft and wizardry in them as an enemy.

"I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn," the greasy haired man introduced himself. You need a shower, I thought, but wisely kept my comment to myself for now.

"I'm Boromir son of Denethor," the man with shoulder length blond hair and brown eyes said when his turn came up. I pressed my lips together very hard to not make any more sarcastic remarks.

"I'm Frodo Baggins, and this is my gardener, Samwise Gamgee." The hot young man with the messy, curly, dark brown hair and light blue eyes that seemed to express every emotion felt, said, Frodo wore a green cotton cape held with a green and silver edged leaf pendant, a cream colored shirt mostly covered by a velvet brown vest, breeches and no shoes. Instead, large hair feet, gripped the grass beneath him. For a few seconds, time went in slow motion and the hot young man seemed to glow, he stood out from the other eight so clearly, like a beacon of light in shadows. Feeling the familiar warmth of a crush starting in my chest, then spreading toward my arms and legs, I was taken aback by feeling these sensations for the second time in my life.

Samwise Gamgee glared at me with suspicion written all over his face. I wanted to ask Samwise what I did to deserve the look he was giving me, but decided to wait for everyone else to introduce themselves.

"I'm Meriadoc Brandybuck, but friends call me Merry." The red headed man's brown eyes were alternating between suspicion and curiosity.

"I'm Peregrin Took, but everyone calls me Pippin." The red headed man that had been the third to address me grinned. I couldn't help but smile back.

A few seconds later I realized what all of this meant. These nine people who looked almost exactly like the actors from the Fellowship of the Ring movie were the original Fellowship of the Ring! A second later, everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3: Parents Meet the Fellowship

Chapter Three-Parents Meet the Fellowship

When I opened my eyes, I was staring into the gorgeous baby blue ones of Frodo Baggins. For a few seconds, time seemed to stand still yet again. Frodo Baggins sure is hot, I thought, feeling the familiar warmth of a crush starting in my chest, then spread toward my arms and legs.

"Am I dreaming?" I asked, as I felt Frodo's arms support my back. A second later, a sharp pain on my back assured me that I most certainly was not dreaming.

"Be careful, Lady Joy, get up very slowly," Aragorn suggested, from in front of me. I gave Aragorn a glare of annoyance.

"I know what to do when I faint Aragorn, this has been my," I paused to calculate, "fourth time I've fainted in my lifetime."

"How did you faint the first three times?" Aragorn asked.

"Two times I was running a really high fever and the third time, Mom screamed that my ulcer was coming out." I shrugged.

"What's an ulcer?" Pippin asked.

"It's a blood clot that I found under my tongue when I was looking at it after going through some surgery to get my tongue tie clipped." I replied.

"What's a tongue tie?"

Don't you ever stop asking questions, Pippin, I thought, but answered him anyway. "A tongue tie is whenever the tongue is shorter than normal tongues." Just like I am, I thought, but immediately shook this thought away. I slowly pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and was about to dial my Mom's number, giving the Fellowship an odd look when they stared at the technological devise in my hand. I quickly called my dad, but only got a female voice telling me that my dad was busy fixing customers air conditioners.

"Of course Dad won't answer the phone when I really need him," I mumbled, hanging up my phone when I heard a recorded voice say memory full. "Maybe mom will answer," dialing her number got the same result. "Stupid answering machine," I mumbled, leaving a message for mom to come right away.

Surely Grandpa would answer his phone, he almost always does, I reassured myself, trying his number. But, as bad luck would have it, grandpa didn't answer my phone either.

"Arrgg!" I groaned in frustration. If I had any questions or problems, I'd usually ask my parents, grandparents or friends for advice. But I couldn't reach my parents or grandparents who were in Weatherford, which was an hour and forty minutes drive away from where I was, and my friends lived at least two hour's drive from Oklahoma City as it was. It looked like I was on my own for this problem.

"Are you alright Lady Joy?" Aragorn asked, giving me a worried look.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I reassured Aragorn, trying to come up with a plan d. My parents, how was I going to explain the original fellowship to my parents? They'd freak out! I started pacing in front of them, as I usually do when freaking out and trying to come up with a plan. I guess I'll just have to explain this situation to them when they find me, I thought.

Now, what should I say to the fellowship? I guess I'll do the same, especially since they're here right now. Taking a few deep breaths and running my hands through my hair to calm myself down, I glanced at the fellowship, who were staring at me with strange looks on their faces. That's when I noticed the Hobbits weren't the same size they are portrayed as in the movies and books.

"Why are you so tall?" I asked, cocking my head, the way I constantly do when asking a question.

"I don't know, Lady Joy." Frodo answered, after thinking about this for a few seconds. I sighed with annoyance at this. Being only four foot eleven inches, everyone's taller than me.

Glancing at my watch, I gasped in surprise. "C'mon guys, let's go hear the story teller!" I exclaimed, grinning in anticipation at this event. As I led the way to the benches under the tree, I explained to the fellowship this event.

"At twelve thirty, the storyteller comes and orally recites unheard of stories. I frequently sit for hours on one of those benches, listening to them and trying to figure out if I've read these stories before. The first time I came here, the storyteller, who's most likely an English or History professor, recited some not so well known fairy tales that I happened to read."

"You like reading books?" Frodo's soothing voice asked in excitement.

"Of course, I love any story as long as it's well told," I turned around and walked backwards as I said this. A second later, I tripped on the hem of my dress and my back hit the ground again.

"Ow, shoot!" I groaned, hello my pain inflicting close friend, I thought sarcastically, quoting from one of the many stories I've read.

"Do you need help Lady Joy?" Frodo asked, stretching a hand out toward me.

"Yes, thank you," I replied, grasping Frodo's hand and hauling myself from the ground. I held onto his hand for a few seconds, noticing how his and mine were a perfect fit, how strange. Noticing everyone staring at us, I quickly let go of Frodo's hand, missing the warmth from our touch.

"Why don't we all sit on a bench," I suggested, taking a seat across from the fellowship. I still didn't quite trust these people, even though they put their weapons away and I knew about their past and future. Instead of sitting on the bench with the other fellowship, Frodo sat next to me. I glanced at Frodo, making sure that he wasn't going to try to take advantage of me. When Frodo didn't do anything, I slowly let myself relax.

"All come hear the storyteller!" The white bearded and haired man dressed in a brown monks robe announced in a baritone ringing voice.

Both Frodo and I sat foreword in anticipation of a good story. As the storyteller began to weave his magical words through the crowd, I was instantly caught up in the magic of this moment. I'd heard all of these stories before, but I didn't mind hearing them again.

"If anyone wants to buy the recorded stories, he or she can pay for these magical compact discs," the storyteller announced an hour later.

"Hello, My Lady," the old man greeted me as I pulled a wad of bills from my small purse. I'd already bought all of the CD's last year, but since I misplaced them, I decided to get myself another copy. Maybe I could copy these stories on paper and give them to Frodo, he seemed to enjoy them and could take these new stories back to Middle Earth, if he ever went back.

"Hello Sir, I'd like to buy each of those CD's please, I really enjoyed the stories you told."

"I am glad you enjoyed them, have I seen you before My Lady? You look very familiar," the old man commented.

"Perhaps it's because I come here every year since a few years ago, sir, my name is Lady Anne," I replied slyly, guessing that he was teasing me.

"Joy, are those, compact discs, really magical?" Pippin asked, as I walked back with my prize.

"No, of course not, they're just recorded onto some discs to be played and enjoyed being listened to again and again," I rolled my eyes in the youngest Hobbit's direction.

"I thought you said your name was Joy," Aragorn pointed out, giving me a skeptical look.

"Joy isn't a normal Renaissance name, so I use my middle one when I come here."

"What's a middle name?" Pippin asked, looking at me with wonder.

"It's the name parents give their children after the children's first name and before their last name."

"Why do parents do that?" Merry asked.

I stopped, trying to figure out an answer to this. When I couldn't think of an explanation, I shrugged, "I don't know, I've never thought of it before."

"Joy! There you are, we were wondering where you wandered off to," Mom admonished the sunlight making her peasant dress glow with different colors as she hurried toward the benches.

"I'm not surprised we found you here, you come and sit for hours at this event every year," Dad smiled below his mustache. I gave my dad a tight lipped smile back. It's now or never, I thought, preparing myself in explaining to my parents who these strangers were.

"Mom and Dad, I'd like you to meet my acquaintances, the Fellowship of the Ring. Fellowship, these are my parents Kelly and David Gillingham."

"Wow, Joy, great trick, how did you get enough money to hire the Lord of the Rings actors to Oklahoma?" I could tell right away by the tone in his voice that my dad didn't believe me. Letting my frustration take over me, I snapped.

"That's right, don't believe me, just like you didn't believe me when I suffered from heat stroke when spraying the weeds in the fields in the late morning last summer, or when you didn't think I was allergic to those eye drops until Mom pointed out that my eyes swelled shut, or the time when you said I was making a big deal out of nothing when I felt like someone poured Tabasco sauce into my eyes when I suffered from Jacoby Grey took my picture during the time that I suffered from pink eye ."

"You'll never forget what I did to you will you? Just like you haven't forgiven me about blaming you for not taking the scarf off," Dad sighed with resignation as he said this.

"I have forgiven you Dad, I just haven't forgotten it," I replied, sighing deeply.

"You don't have a very good relationship with your father, do you Lady Joy?" Frodo asked sadly.

"You can say that again," I smiled grimly.

"You don't have a very good relationship with your father, do you Lady Joy?" Frodo repeated himself.

"You can say that again is an expression," I explained, giving Frodo a small smile.

"What's an expression?" Frodo stared at me with innocent, questioning eyes. He looked so cute like that.

"An expression is just a saying we use around here," I explained.

Everyone's stomachs growled, sounding like several small drumbeats to my ears. The Fellowship gave my parents and I sheepish looks, but I didn't mind, I was hungry myself.

"Why don't we all get something to eat, then look around some more?" Mom suggested as Dad pulled out the light blue papered map.

"We would like that very much, Lady Kelly," Aragorn replied, addressing himself and the group.

I held my breath to keep from laughing at Aragorn's comment. I didn't mind Aragorn addressing us as Lord and Lady here, but would he continue to when we left the Renaissance Faire?


	4. Chapter 4: The Renaissance Faire

Chapter Four-The Renaissance Faire

There were at least twenty different food stalls to choose from. The food sold from these stalls ranged in all kinds of varieties. Large turkey legs, delicious pizza, fresh baked breads, cool water, bubbly root beer, fresh squeezed lemonade, tasty Indian Tacos, Greek gyros and Middle Eastern food were some of the choices for lunch. We finally decided on a Greek stall and ordered gyros, a kind of sandwich filled with venison, mayonnaise, tomatoes and lettuce wrapped in a tortilla.

Sitting on a low wall, we dipped our gyros in hummus, a kind of creamy, slightly spicy sauce, and each took a bite of a grape leaf. As we ate, I noticed a man and woman, about my age, dressed in peasant clothes, speaking in attempted English accents, teasing each other. The fellowship looked shocked as the man reached down between the woman's breasts and pulled out a wad of money, but I just laughed as the woman admonished the man.

Seeing the man and woman hug after this, I wished I could have a male friend like that.

"He's a squirrel," Mom commented referring to the man in front of us, as we continued to watch the group of three friends interact with each other. Frodo and I smiled at each other in agreement. After showing the fellowship how a trash barrel worked, we disposed of our paper plates, plastic silverware and thin napkins, then started walking around the field of tents.

The first thing the nine men wanted to check out was the weapons contest right next to where we were sitting. A few hours later, I don't think the competitors enjoyed having the fellowship at their contests, because those nine beat everyone at fencing, archery, spear and axe throwing. Noticing the angry crowd forming, my parents and I dragged the fellowship away from the contest arena as fast as possible.

Hearing cheerful music coming from a green tent, we peaked inside to see two colorfully peasant dressed middle aged women playing violins. All of us sat in plastic grey and white chairs but Merry and Pippin, who danced a jig in front of the stage. I laughed at Merry and Pippin's antics as the two women finished their tune.

The next band's leader explained the history of a few of the lesser known instruments before his whole family launched into an old middle aged dancing song with violins, mandolins, drums, guitars, and tambourines, which was slower than the one we'd just heard. This unique music reminded me of the Celtic style music performed on the radio during the weekends, making me feel like I'd lived another life where Celtic music was the most popular kind played, just like I felt about classical music.

The fellowship didn't seem overly impressed with everything being sold until I explained to them that most fairs rely solely on lights, machines and imported goods to provide entertainment for its guests. As I continued to explain why I enjoyed this faire than any other, all nine men nodded in understanding as I pointed out the homemade products I was so impressed with that were in good quality not found anywhere else compared to the artificial superficiality that filled the modern stores, despite the high prices. They seemed perplexed that plastic, wooden swords and axes were sold to children instead of real ones and even more confused when we explained that very few people knew how to use these old fashioned weapons anymore, especially when Dad started lecturing about guns.

All nine men were fascinated with the man in the white tent playing songs on water glasses as I was when I first saw him perform this trick in an outside booth. They were just as enthralled with the vocal performers, comedians and acrobats also being performed on stage. The younger members of the fellowship especially stared at the belly dancers, but I just rolled my eyes, knowing that my slim waist would give me an advantage over most of these performers, if I chose to show off my body.

Looking at a tent selling wooden carved multicolored painted dragons, I picked up a wooden handled leather sling shot and pulled it back. Merry and Pippin seemed especially delighted at this, explaining in great detail how their slingshots were used to distract the neighbors as the dynamic duo stole pies from windowsills. I smiled, remembering how the character Link from my Nintendo 64 The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time video game used his slingshot many times.

All ten men rolled their eyes as Mom and I checked out the Renaissance clothes being sold in a large tent from dresses to corsets, to shirts, to pants to scarves to purses to walking sticks to a black head piece decorated with golden ribbon that Mom bought to go with her dress.

I sniggered as the Hobbits were told off for being too old to join the children in taking part of leaping in the bounce houses, treasure hunting and fighting on a pirate ship. Merry, Pippin Frodo and Sam all complained loudly about how the activities should be available to people of all ages, not just children. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli gave me amused looks and Gandalf muttered "Hobbits," as we moved onto the next sight.

"Look Mr. Frodo, it's an Oliphant!" Sam exclaimed, pointing at the elephant also giving rides, "No one at home will believe us." I laughed loudly at Sam's comment, explaining how elephants are either roaming the countries of Africa and Asia or in zoos, but that he's right, no one at home would believe them.

"I've never seen a creature like that, what is it?" Frodo asked, pointing to the camel being tied close to the wooden platform. This launched me into a lecture about how the camel is used in the Middle East when not also in zoos. The fellowship then demanded an explanation of what a zoo was and what it was used for.

The Hobbits looked the most perplexed as they gazed at the bungee jumping. I explained how I'd have enjoyed the ride if I hadn't felt too nauseated. This got me even more confused looks as Merry, Pippin, Frodo and Sam reminded me that Hobbits are afraid of heights.

"Don't they use the ponies for anything but going round with children on their backs?" I glanced at the carousel looking ponies everyone was staring at.

"Probably not, most of these ponies are lucky to be giving people rides since they're not of use to anyone else."

Going past the tents and booths selling jewelry and fake hair, I stopped to admire a booth filled with carved pewter statues of dragons, wizards, castles, kings, queens, knights, books, and apprentices, some with jewels with them, all ranging in size. After finding out just how expensive these unusual objects were, I gave them one last longing look, and moved on. Before going to the edge of the field, I stopped at a stall selling perfumes, soaps and candy, having just enough money left to give each of the fellowship their choices of multiple flavored liquid sticks.

After a long exciting day of enjoying the Oklahoma Renaissance Faire, it was now seven o'clock and we noticed people packing their products into boxes, taking the tents down, loading the animals into trailers, and driving away in cars and trucks. Now we faced a new problem, how to get all nine members of the fellowship safely to our house.


	5. Chapter 5: Culture Shock

Chapter Five-Culture Shock

"How are we going to get the fellowship home? They can't all fit in Mom's car."

"We could tie Joy to the hood of the car," Dad teased.

"Ha, ha, ha," I replied sarcastically. That's when I had an idea of how to get everyone home without renting a hotel.

"Grandma, I'm wondering if you can help me get some of my acquaintances home." It took a bit of convincing, but after explaining to my grandparents who they were going to drive to my house, my dad's parents agreed to take half of the fellowship in their car. An hour and a half later, grandma and grandpa drove up next to our car.

I braced myself for the inevitable argument of the fellowship staying at my grandparents house or ours. Finally, after an hour's more worth of arguing, we all agreed to allow the fellowship to sleep at the Gillingham junior's house. Now, the challenging part was to convince the fellowship that cars were safe.

"What are these-things?" Frodo asked, staring at the cars with trepidation.

"They're called cars, and they allow a person to travel without walking," I explained as I settled myself in the back seat and buckled the seat belt. After making sure everyone knew how to work seat belts, we began driving home.

"Do you mean to say that these, cars, can go seventy miles in an hour?"

"Yes Frodo, cars can go seventy miles per hour," I replied, noticing him watching the speedometer with fascination

"Cars, are so fast!" Merry exclaimed.

"Just don't let Joy drive, she's a lead foot," Dad advised.

"What's a lead foot?" Frodo asked.

"It means I drive too fast," I ground out, wishing Dad would quit putting me down in front of my new acquaintances.

"How can you drive too fast going seventy miles an hour?" Frodo stared at me in disbelieve at this possibility.

"Because cars go much faster than just seventy miles an hour," I replied, 'and people say I'M naïve,' I thought.

"This is going to be a long drive home," I sighed, leaning my head against the window.

"Why do you say that Miss Joy?" Sam asked.

"Because you guys will be asking me questions all the way home."

I was right about the Hobbits asking me questions all the way home. My parents and I were hard pressed to explain traffic lights, highways, fast food restaurants, tall buildings, the malls, several stores, pretty much everything those four could set their eyes on. It was several minutes later, when we were driving past fields instead of buildings that I allowed my frustration and orneriness to show, the former quality I demonstrate frequently and the second quality hardly at all.

"Are we there yet," Pippin whined.

"Not yet, Pippin," Frodo replied patiently.

"Are we there yet," Pippin repeated a few minutes later. I sighed and watched the scenery from outside the window. This was going to be a very long car ride.

Quite a few minutes later of Pippin asking if we were at my house yet, the tension I was feeling exploded. "Pippin, it takes an hour and a half to get from Oklahoma City to my house, so be patient and shut up!"

"What does shut up mean?" Pippin asked cautiously.

"Shut up is a ruder word for be quiet!" I regretted taking my frustration out on Pippin seconds later when I saw hurt fill his eyes. Resisting the urge to bang my head against the window, I took the back seat pillow and bonked my forehead against it instead.

Wanting to make up my outburst, I decided to give into my slightly mischievous side. I know, I should have buried the idea, but the temptation was almost too much to resist. "Hey Pippin, do you know what song annoys people the fastest?"

"No, what?" Pippin asked, his light green eyes beginning to sparkle with curiosity and a hint of mischief. I couldn't help but let out a high pitched giggle that warns anyone who's been around me for a really long time know that I'm about to do something that I probably shouldn't.

"I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, and this is how it goes," after repeating this line a few times, Pippin caught on and began singing along with me.

"Joy, stop teaching them bad habits," Mom scolded from the passenger seat.

"But you always complain that I don't have a sense of humor," I admitted, noticing Dad give me a mischievous glance from the review mirror.

"You mentioned earlier that you love reading books?" Frodo asked, changing topics.

I felt excitement fill me at the mention of one of my favorite topics. I'm usually not a chatterbox, but if a person gets me on the subject of books, I'll talk for at least an hour. "Yes, I'd read all day if I could."

"So would I, what kinds of books are written here?" Frodo's aquamarine blue eyes sparkled with excitement as he asked.

Remembering that Frodo's love of books was the first reason why I liked him from the movies, in the first place, before I read the books, which made me relate to him even more as a character, I launched into a long discussion of my favorite books which lasted the rest of the way home.

"Oklahoma's a farming state, which is why you see so many pastures," I explained as we got out of the cars and headed toward our old family farm house.

"You live on a farm!" Boromir exclaimed.

"Good observation," I deadpanned.

"But milady, you're wearing a dress that only a wealthy lady would wear."

"It's a costume, and please stop calling me milady, my name is Joy," I explained, going through the front door.

As we all gathered into the living room, Aragorn turned to Dad and suggested something that was impossible.

"We greatly enjoyed your hospitality, but feel that we must be moving on. If you would but direct us to Lothlorien, we'll be on our way."

At Aragorn's words, I burst out laughing. In a few seconds, my laugh lost its sound and I began coughing so hard that I feared I'd be sick.

"Joy, do you need your inhailer?" Mom asked worriedly. Shaking my head, I took a few deep breaths

"Why are you so rude when we've shown nothing but gratefulness for your hospitality?" Aragorn asked, glaring at me.

Wishing to be anywhere but my parent's living room, I asked everyone to sit down, warning the fellowship that they were about to get a huge culture shock.

"The time I've heard of Lothlorien is in the country of Middle Earth, which is detailed in The Hobbit book, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Silmarilian."

At the fellowship's blank looks, I went on. "What's the last thing you guys remember?"

"Gandalf fought a Balrog, a demon from the ancient world," Legolas explained.

After thinking hard about all I'd read on time travel, I ventured my opinion. "I have a theory of how all nine of you could have ended up here. While Gandalf fought the Balrog, his magic may have accidentally somehow either created a portal from your world and mine, or you traveled about six hundred eleven years into the future, give or take a few years," I explained, having subtracted the large numbers on my calculator in my cell phone.

"You mean to say that we are in the year two thousand eleven?" Aragorn gasped.

Mom, Dad and I shared a glance then answered at the same time, "Yes."

It s a good thing I asked the fellowship to sit down, because I think they would have fainted from shock if we had told them while they were still standing up. As it was, all nine men leaned back in the couch they were sitting on.

"How about you stay here until we find you a way to go home?" Mom offered. Not seeing much of an option as we gave examples of just how dangerous this world could be, all nine agreed to stay for now, as long as we proved ourselves trustworthy. The first thing we did to make our new guests feel welcome was to cook them a large, wonderful dinner.

Although dinner didn't take long to prepare, pulling both the dining and kitchen tables together as well as getting enough chairs for everyone to sit in was. I wanted to yell that the middle chair was my place seconds before eating dinner, since I always sit there, but kept the comment to myself. I could survive one evening in a different place at the table.

During most of the meal, I kept on glancing at Frodo, who stole glances at me back, then quickly looked away. Frodo's so handsome he's beautiful, I thought wistfully as he glanced at me yet again.

I've been attracted to dark haired, blue eyed men ever since I had a crush on Daniel Radcliffe back in 2002. The fact that Frodo was hot and shared my love of books seemed almost too good to be true, like my last boyfriend, who shared a lot in common with me, but pushed our relationship too fast. The problem that I worried most about was the fellowship would one day return to Middle Earth.

Needing to release my frustration, I rushed to my laptop the moment I had eaten my fill as everyone else sat in the living room and talked.

"What are you doing?" Dad interrupted as I woke my laptop up.

"I'm playing on my laptop."

"You're going to join the rest of us in making our guests feel welcome."

I made a slightly strangled sound of protest in the back of my throat at this. If there's one thing I don't do well, it's talking to a small group of people. I already have enough trouble getting my thoughts passed my lips, so to me, what Dad commanded me to do was a form of torture.

"Hey, why don't we show the fellowship our version of their adventures?" I asked, hoping to do anything but talk.

"You mean the books?" Dad guessed.

"No, the Fellowship of the Ring extended version of the movie!"

"That's a great idea, why don't you go find it while we wait for your mom to get finished with the dishes Joy?"

I was more than happy to grab the DVD case, having diverted everyone from sitting around being bored with conversations. After explaining to our guests what movies were I inserted the DVD into the VHS/DVD player and started the extended version of the first movie.

As Galadriel's voice narrated the back story, all nine of the fellowship sat foreword and listened intensely. I only halfway listened, paying more attention to our guests reactions than the DVD, which I'd watched at least a thousand times.

Settling into my small blue chair, Frodo and I shared a smile as we watched Bilbo Baggins explain the race of Hobbits. Like I've said before, I love any story as long as it's well told and don't mind watching, listening to or reading the same story over and over again, even if it isn't published. The only reason why I had a theory about time travel in the first place was from reading so many fan fiction stories about the fellowship visiting a teen or college student in the modern world, or vice versa.

"Frodo, the door! Sticklebats, where is that boy, Frodo!" I smiled as the scene changed to Elijah Wood reading a book under a tree.

"That sounds like something I'd do, only it's usually Joy, get off the internet!"

"What's the internet?" Frodo asked with interest.

"I'll show you later," I replied.

As the screen did a close up of Elijah Wood, I glanced at Frodo to see his reaction.

"Are my eyes really that big?"

"Now that I think about it and can make a comparison, no, yours aren't. I do love the color of Elijah Wood's eyes, but their largeness does freak me out, sometimes." I thought about how I had tried to contact Elijah through five copies of one letter and one Twitter two months ago. You're most likely thinking obsessed much?

Yes, I'll admit I get obsessed, but usually it's with books and movies, not actors. Besides, some of those addresses had most likely been fake, I had wanted to make sure that my letter actually got to the actual person or his agent, instead of some stranger. Unlike most fan girls, I hadn't gone on about how hot Elijah was or how I was his one true love and was going to marry him.

Figuring the poor guy already got bombarded with those comment as it was, I had simply introduced myself and had pointed out that we had a lot of things in common, which was true. No one had responded to my letters and Elijah had brushed me off on Twitter. It was then that I had decided to let the famous celebrity live his life and I live mine.

I smiled at Frodo as he continued to watch the movie, realizing that for a few precious seconds, I preferred reality to fantasy. As I listened to Elijah speak, I noticed that his voice sounded very different from Frodo's. Frodo has a constantly soft spoken, soothing lilt to his voice, while Elijah's sometimes sounds like that, but other times is flatter and raspier, despite being taught by a voice coach.

This small mistake that I've noticed ever since I bought the VHS tapes for my dad's birthday has always bothered me. Frodo's voice reminded me of my friend Lindsey's who had an Irish lilt she picked up from her mom. I particularly loved listening to Lindsey speak because she had such an unusual accent. Even though Frodo's voice obviously wasn't Irish or Scottish sounding, it had that certain quality to it that made me want to continue listening to him.

As Merry and Pippin from the movie set off the huge red firework, the Merry, Pippin and Frodo sitting in my living room laughed. I stared as Frodo continued to laugh, noticing that the sound had a pleasant, contagious quality to it.

"It's sad that people portray Frodo and Sam as having a gay relationship," Mom commented as we watched my two favorite characters in this book series walk through the fields. Usually I would have agreed, adding that some people can be so shallow. Instead, I wanted to sink through the chair I was sitting in.

"Mom, you know how I'd point out when you talk too much and say something you shouldn't? Well, this is one of those times."

"Well of course Frodo and Sam are gay, what kind of relationship would people expect us to have?"

"So you're saying you all are romantically attracted to males?" I asked slowly, giving Merry a strange look for this question. The whole fellowship stared at me in shock at this idea.

"No, who would say such things?"

"Most people who think you're attracted to fellow males, or are gay as we call it, are people who write slash fan fiction."

"What exactly is slash fan fiction?"

I felt heat creep up my face at the idea of explaining slash to the very person I read slash stories about when I thought he was a fictional character. As long as I kept everything general, then maybe no one would know of my most embarrassing past addiction.

"Begging your pardon Joy, but do y'know that your face is as red as a tomato?"

"Considering that it feels like I'm too close to a fire when I'm not, yes Sam, my face probably is."

After explaining to the fellowship just exactly what slash was and how graphic the details of such stories were, Frodo was the first to break the stunned silence.

"Dear Elbereth, this is sickening!" Frodo exclaimed, his face extremely pale.

"It's better than incest," I made a disgusted face as I said this, " I mean, people are free to chose their own life style, I don't have a problem with that. But, to read about family members having graphically written sex because they're lovers is just gross!"

The poor fellowship was staring at me with alternate mixtures of shock, anger and disgust. I decided not to tell my new acquaintances about how I used to read enough slash stories to fill a book.

"What kind of other fan fictions have been written about us?"

I smiled wickedly as an idea formed in my head. The Fellowship would kill me when they found out about this, but the idea was too good to resist.

"I'll explain about the other fan fiction stories people have written about you tomorrow. Don't worry, not all of the stories written about you are bad."

As all twelve of us continued to watch the movie, my parents and I explained why the Barrow-Down, Tom Bombadil and Glorfindel weren't in the scenes, since the trilogy is fourteen hours long if you watch the movies back to back. The fellowship was greatly disappointed in these key events not being displayed in the movies, but I think all in all, they enjoyed the first side of the movie's disk.

"Since you'll be living in our house for a while, you'll need to be familiar with the machines we use every day," with these words, Mom began leading the fellowship on a tour of the house, starting with the lamps, fan and radio in the living room, moving onto the light in the dining room, the stove, microwave, refrigerator and faucet in the kitchen, and the plumbing in the bathrooms.

It was when I stared at the now blank TV screen that I was able to realize what exactly I had gotten myself into. I've never been one to accept change very easily. In fact, most of the time I'll stubbornly resist change until I'm forced to, but it wasn't just accepting that nine strangers were now living in my parents' house, which was hard enough to deal with, since the change came so suddenly.

As the fellowship admired the magical machines as they called the inventions, I hesitated in putting the Lord of the Rings DVD away. Before the fellowship entered our lives, I hadn't minded watching the World War One based Lord of the Rings trilogy because I had known that it was a made up fantasy story. But now, with the fellowship themselves staying at our house, watching the war scenes in this movie would be like watching Private Ryan or any other war movie I had seen in my life, something I could only do once, due to the crushing weight of memories I couldn't remember, no matter how hard I tried, of a time when I had had to fight for my life when I hadn't known if I would be alive the next day.

The hardest task now, was figuring out where everyone was going to sleep for the night. Showing the nine men our options, the two full sized beds in the guest room and mine, the pull out couch the fellowship was now sitting on, the leather couch in the music room and the two mattresses.

The fellowship quickly decided that Frodo and Sam would sleep in my room, Merry and Pippin would sleep in the guest room, Aragorn and Borimor would sleep on the pull out couch, Legolas would sleep on the leather couch and Gandalf and Gimli would sleep on the mattresses.

"Why don't you sleep with the dogs in the back room?" Dad suggested. The back room was a storage room with a toilet, sink, wooden floor and no air conditioning. My mouth dropped open at this idea.

"Your Dad's just teasing you, Joy, you get to sleep in the recliner, don't you know when he's teasing you?" Mom added, when everyone else checked out their sleeping rooms. I repressed the urge to yell at Frodo and Sam that I wanted my room back, since that was rude, with them being guests and all.

"Perfect," I grumbled sarcastically under my breath. "The Fellowship gets treated like royalty while first, my place at the dinner table gets taken, then I have to talk with our guests, now I must sleep in the recliner and wake up sore? Oh this day just gets better and better, doesn't it?"

Grabbing one of the couch pillows on the window seat, turning the radio off and stomping to the TV, I crawled into one of the green recliners, let it down, tugged the velvet like blanket over me, tucked the pillow behind me, and spent a few minutes trying to ignore Aragorn and Boromir's snores.

I had always been one to find escapes from the dangerous world of reality, from drawing pictures to playing the piano to writing stories to dancing, to surfing the internet, it hadn't really matter, as long as I didn't have to face the real world for most of my free hours. But now, nine characters from three of the many books I read for escapism were living, breathing people. The idea of not being allowed to fully ignore reality anymore scared me to the very core of my being.

To my horror, I felt a ball of water roll up my throat and tears nearly spilled from my eyes. I swallowed convulsively and reminded myself that these were acquaintances, strangers I'd just met. I didn't know if I could trust these nine men enough to cry in front of them yet.

Concentrating on keeping my voice down to a low whimper, I let the hot tears roll down my cheeks. I wished I could scream until the emotional pain left my chest, but because I couldn't, I let out low moans of pain, praying that Aragorn and Boromir wouldn't hear me as they slept.

"Why do you weep milady?" a voice I recognized as Aragorn's asked. Of course Aragorn would hear me, I thought, he was raised by Elves and was trained as a Ranger.

"Nothing…I'm fine…and stop calling me milady," I snapped, wishing I'd been quieter when crying.

"Lady Joy, I could hear you crying from across the room, and most people cry for a good reason. Now, what makes you weep?"

Can I trust Aragorn enough to tell him what's bothering me, much less possibly bursting into tears again, I wondered. No, he's a stranger and most of all a male. I never knew how men would react to surprising, bad news. It was better to keep everything I thought and felt bottled up than to risk getting yelled at.

"I'm sorry I woke you, Aragorn, but don't worry about me, I'm fine, I'm always fine." My voice changed from concern to a monotone as I said this.

"I highly doubt that, you're obviously upset about something, won't you help me relieve the burden you carry?"

"Which one?" I asked bitterly.

"What do you speak of, mil-Joy?"

"Never mind, good night, Aragorn," I replied, rolling onto my left side.

"Goodnight Joy," Aragorn sighed, going back to the pull out couch.

'I'm sorry Aragorn,' I thought, 'I just can't trust you just yet.'


	6. Chapter 6: WalMart and Under Appreciati

Chapter Six-Wal-Mart and Under Appreciation

Ten words for the delayed next chapter: Final Tests in college, poor laptop internet connection, work and 's document upload not working. With that said, on with the story.

Sunday was the usual rush to get to church on time for the Gillingham family, with Dad reminding all eleven of us that we were going to be late. I rolled my eyes and ignored my dad for the time being as I brushed my teeth quickly. Dad insisted that the fellowship experience church, so we had four of the guys in mom's car, three in dad's truck, and Frodo and Sam in my Chevrolet.

"Are you sure this is safe for you to drive?" Frodo asked worriedly as I placed the dark blue pillow on the driver's seat and scooted it up.

"Beggin' your pardon, Joy, but I don't trust your ability, seeing as Mr. Gillingham said you drive too fast," Sam glared, crossing his arms stubbornly.

"I'm not as much of a lead foot as I used to be, and it's about as safe as a wagon, so don't worry guys," I replied, sitting in the driver's seat and hooking up my seat belt. After waiting for Frodo and Sam to do the same, I put the truck in reverse, slowly backed it down the road, drove it around the house and followed my parents to church. As promised, I didn't speed as I attempted to follow Dad's Ford down the dirt road through the small canyon that connected our property with the neighbors.

"There's miss college student," Bob announced as I walked through the back door into the church's kitchen twenty minutes later.

"Who are your friends?" Lois asked, studying the nine strangers with curiosity.

After glancing at each other, my parents and I agreed not to divulge our new acquaintances real names, knowing how gossip loving small towns were like.

"This is Aaron," Dad introduced, pointing to Aragon, who looked slightly surprised at not being addressed by one of his many names.

"Marty, Phillip, Sam, Red, Ian, Lewis, Fred and Boris," I added quickly, pointing toward Merry, Pippin, Sam, Gimli, Gandalf, Legolas, Frodo and Boromir respectively. Both of my parents stared at me for this the old fashioned name for Boromir.

"It's the first name I thought up, okay?" I hissed.

"Are there any of them you're thinking of having as a boyfriend Joy?" Bob teased.

"I just met them, Bob, I like to get to know a person before deciding to go out with them."

"You have a good head on your shoulders, girl, do any of them in particular catch your interest?"

"Fred does," I admitted, noticing the surprised and hopeful look Frodo gave me as I said this.

"I hope Fred's rich, so he can provide you with lots of money to spend on clothes and jewelry."

" Fred inherited a lot of money from his guardian Bill, making him a millionaire, but I don't base my relationship on whether my boyfriends have a lot of money or not, besides, I don't really care for fashionable clothes, expensive jewelry or mansions for homes, I base my relationship on a person's personality than on how much wealth he has, besides, I'd much rather be sharing books I've read and stories I've written with my boyfriend than make him go broke from buying me lavish gifts."

With these words, I walked toward the Sunday School room I assisted in teaching. Frodo and Sam followed Mom and I into the room, which surprised me, since I expected them to join the adult class.

"If you want to join the adult class we don't mind," I replied, beginning to text notes to myself.

"I'd much rather stay here with you," Frodo replied, staring at me, surprise and appreciation shining in his eyes.

"I'll be by Mr. Frodo's side, wherever he chooses to go," Sam replied as I turned to him.

"I don't doubt you will," I replied quietly, saving my notes.

"I assume when you were telling Bob about my inherited fortune, that by Bill you meant my uncle Bilbo?"

"Yes, I think it's best if we use fake names when out in public, I'm sure you don't want to get calls at all hours of the morning."

"That would be very disturbing," Frodo reflected.

I smirked in Frodo's direction at his choice of words. The idea of dealing with screaming obsessed fans would be a nightmare in my eyes. Even though I'd barely known these guys, I felt protective of them.

"I know that you know about my inherited fortune from the movie about ourselves, but how much more do you know about me?"

"Lots Frodo, remember I read the books as well as watched the movies, as you might have noticed when you watched The Fellowship of the Ring for the first time."

"I know that you knew about Tom Bombadil, and the Barrow-Down Glorfindel, but what else do you know about me." Frodo persisted.

"I'll explain later," I promised, noticing Caleb walking in and cutting the conversation short.

Mom and I teach a local group of children who come from very poor, dysfunctional families every Sunday, hoping to provide a safe haven and guidance to these kids in the hopes that they will make positive choices in their lives. I'd volunteered for the position originally, but got discouraged when I realized how much work I would have to do by myself. Having taught Sunday School for many years, I let Mom have the reins while I was her assistant.

The fellowship were fascinated by everything go on during the church sermon, so as to not interrupt anyone else wanting to listen, all twelve of us exchanged bulletins of questions and answers back and forth.

After church, we all decided to go to Wal-Mart in order to buy the fellowship more modern clothes. My parents and I were grateful that we already explained the rules of the road to the fellowship, since Frodo and Sam asked me much less questions than what would have otherwise been the case. Although Frodo did make driving slightly difficult for me since he kept on trying to persuade me to say everything I knew about him.

"Frodo, no offense, but it's hard enough driving and not letting my mind wander, so can you please save your questions for when I park the car?"

As Frodo and Sam politely kept their silence, I slowly loosened my grip on the steering wheel. Following the highway I usually take to Wal-Mart, I carefully watched all the other cars so that I wouldn't get run over by any crazy drivers. There's one on every road.

"Joy, may I ask one question?" Frodo's voice was cautious as he asked this.

"Okay, just one," I relented.

"What's Wal-Mart?"

Trying to compare the huge store with something he'd understand, I replied, "Wal-Mart is like a very large market that's inside."

"Why would this Wal-Mart be inside? Seems a shame to not admire the pretty day as you go from stall to stall," Sam pointed out.

"True, but it's probably inside incase if it rains."

"How big is Wal-Mart?"

"You'll see in a minute," I replied, turning left at the intersection.

Frodo and Sam gaped at the Wal-Mart that was medium sized compared to the one in a small town we used to go to and small compared to the super centers in the city. This was the first Wal-Mart they'd ever seen, so I didn't blame them.

"There are few rules before we shop in Wal-Mart," I warned as we got out of the truck. "One, leave your weapons in the truck, I know you brought your weapons with you in church, we forgot to warn you not to, but you won't need your swords or frying pans in here. Two, don't loudly exclaim about every new thing you see, we want to keep a low profile just like we did at church, if you have any questions, then ask me or my parents quietly and we'll try to answer them as much as possible. Three, don't steal anything, there are security cameras and alarms all over the place, including the things in this store."

"What's security cameras and alarms?"

"Let's just say the workers here have ways of catching thieves, that and you don't want to be on the receiving end or our anger once we find out about it," I warned, not wanting to go into detail explaining how security cameras and alarms worked.

"We wouldn't steal anything from this store, we're too grateful for all the hospitality you're showing us."

Sam nodded his head vigorously in agreement.

"You might not, but I could see your cousins try to sneak something under their clothes."

"We'll keep an eye on them, two eyes as often as we can spare them as Gandalf says."

I nodded my approval as we walked across the parking lot.

All nine members of the fellowship stared at the sliding automatic doors in wonder, but tried to look as inconspicuous as possible, which I was very grateful for. Once we entered Wal-Mart the fellowship whipped their head back and forth every few seconds as sights and sounds bombarded them. I smiled to myself at this, remembering how I did the same thing during my first trip to this new Wal-Mart.

The moment Mom caught sight of the clothing wracks, she led all eleven of us toward the clothing section, and thus began the slightly boring task if picking out new clothes for the fellowship.

"Can I take those who we've finished shopping for to the book and technology aisles now?" I asked, feeling impatient to get out of the clothing section as one hour bled into two after I somewhat enjoyed helping the fellowship pick out their new outfits.

"Sure, just stay there so we know where to find you," Mom advised as I grabbed Frodo and Sam's hands, dragging them to the back of Wal-Mart as fast as I could.

"Why are you in such a hurry," Frodo asked as I focused my eyes on the TV screens.

"In case you haven't noticed, I hate clothes shopping. I can only stand it for about an hour, four if I'm with my friends."

"I wouldn't expect girls to dislike clothes, Joy, it's most unnatural," Sam commented as we finally made it to the technology section.

"So I've been told," I replied dryly as I started glancing at the movies.

"Ooo, this one looks good, I'll have to remember to put it on my Netflix query," I commented, placing the movie back on its shelf.

"What's a Netflix query?" Frodo asked.

After spending about an hour looking at the different movie selections and explaining about Netflix, I wandered over to the book aisle with Frodo and Sam right behind me.

"There sure are a lot of selections of books," Frodo commented, looking at the different genres.

"If you think this is large, you should see the malls, or better yet Barnes N Nobles, especially in Albuquerque, it's so large that you have to go up an escalator to get to the second floor! The Barnes N Nobles in Oklahoma City isn't nearly that large."

"What's an escalator?" Sam asked.

"An escalator is a set of moving stairs that can either go up or down from one floor to the next."

Frodo and Sam seemed very confused at my explanation, but shrugged it off as a new machine.

"Does your family like books?"

"Of course, why do you ask?"

"Well, I've noticed all of these shelves of books throughout your house."

"Yeah, most of them are mine."

"But you said your-"

"My family likes to read, but I have the most books."

"So you're an avid reader?"

"I was labeled a bookworm in high school."

"How can you worm your way into a book and what's high school?"

Trying not to laugh, I explained high school, its classes, teachers, peers, mediocre lunches and cliques.

"Gillingham party of twelve, Gillingham party of twelve, your group is ready at check out four," a voice over the intercom yelled, making me cringe at the noise level.

Frodo and Sam looked around wildly for the source of the mysterious voice, as if it was the voice of God, but I shrugged and began leading my friends down the aisles to the front of Wal-Mart, where my parents, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, Merry and Pippin were waiting for Frodo, Sam and I.

I was just beginning to be impressed by how well the fellowship was adapting to their new environment, when Borimor opened his mouth and made one of the biggest mistakes a person from a medieval like past traveling to the future can make.

"You work here, Jenny?" Borimor asked suspiciously, reading the cashier's name tag.

"I hold a job just like everyone else does," Jenny replied suspiciously.

"But ma'am, you should be staying at home taking care of children and doing housework, not holding a job like a common man."

In a blur of flesh, Jenny slapped Borimor's face and started screaming at him about how jobs were scarce due to the recession and how dare he say she couldn't work just because she was a woman. Realizing Borimor's mistake in seconds and guessing that if the warrior opened his mouth anymore, he might stir up trouble, all three of us, with the help from the rest of the fellowship once they got over the shock of Borimor getting slapped and chewed out for all the cash register aisles to hear, dragged Boromir out of Wal-Mart as fast as possible.

As the fellowship talked about all they'd experienced in Wal-Mart, I allowed my thoughts to wander. I was again reminded how both Frodo and I loved books, and movies too considering that he wanted to watch every movie we owned. It was amazing how we had hobbies in common, maybe even life experiences, but my mind immediately warned me about my last relationship.

Even though I wasn't very attracted to the guy, in a few days time, I was falling in love with him. At the time, I'd thought the guy was great, since we shared a love of books and movies as well as having similar life experiences. Then the young man's lack of respect yanked that dream back to the ground of reality.

Ever since then, I'd been wary to date or put on make-up. It seemed like every time I thought I'd found the right one, the guy would do or say something that made me think otherwise. I didn't want to make that same mistake again, especially since Frodo probably only saw me as a friend anyway.

"I'm bored," Pippin whined from the chair he was sitting in. All twelve of us were in the living room bored out of our minds after having put away the clothes and groceries.

"Joy, why don't you show the fellowship your archery set?" Mom suggested from the other recliner chair.

I smirked at this idea. I'm not talented in very many things, but after a few minutes of practice, I quickly picked up on the basics of archery.

"You like archery?" Frodo asked as we got up from the couch.

"Yep, I'm good at it too," I replied, walking with him toward my room.

Grabbing my bow and quiver of arrows, I headed toward the sunroom and hauled the cardboard target out the door.

"Joy's a woman, there is no way she can use that bow and arrow," Boromir grumbled as he followed the eleven of us to the backyard. I think he was still sore from the escapade at Wal-Mart, either that or he didn't know how to keep his mouth shut, or both.

I rolled my eyes and leaned the cardboard target up against a hay bale put there for that purpose. Standing up and checking for any cats, I put on the leather finger guard, placed an arrow and pulled back the bow.

"Okay Joy," I muttered to myself, "remember, don't aim right at the middle of the target, just to the side of it." Taking my own advice, I aimed slightly to the left of center and let the arrow go.

"Yes, one down, four more to go!" I cheered, turning around when I didn't hear any encouragement. All nine members of the fellowship were staring at me in shock.

"What?" I asked, nonplused.

"You actually made a bulls eye."

"Yeah, so?"

"Only Elf women have skills with the bow," Aragorn replied, looking impressed.

I wasn't sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult.

"Thanks," I replied uneasily, "is that because I'm a woman or just me?"

"What do you mean?"

"This isn't the first time I've been underappreciated, Boromir."

"What do you mean?" Frodo asked, giving me the same innocent look he had the day before.

"I'm not an extraverted, party loving, argumentative woman, Frodo," I sighed. "I'm an introverted, quiet, passive-assertive one, who's frequently overlooked because of those very qualities."

This was an issue I was always somewhat sensitive about, since I was frequently overshadowed by others, even my own friends. Frodo gave me a sympathetic, understanding look, as if he'd gone through the same thing.

"Do you want to practice?" I asked Frodo, handing him the bow and quiver of arrows.

"I'm much better with a sword, and even with Sting, I'm not very good at swordsmanship."

"That's alright, I'm probably not good at fencing either, not that I'd know since I've never tried."

Frodo was right when he said he wasn't good at archery. We spent more time retrieving his arrows than pulling them out of the hay when it was his turn. Frodo wasn't the only one who wasn't skilled at archery, neither was Merry, Pippin, Sam, Boromir or Gimli.

Legolas and Aragon's skills in archery were something I expected, they grew up in Rivendell after all. After about an hour of this, I decided to give the fellowship a tour of the property. This was a great improvement compared to the fact that I usually played on the computer when my parents showed guests around.

We started at the pond out in the field, with the Hobbits reminding me how much they hated the water. However, the Hobbits looked delighted with the fields that made up the other side of our property. I shrugged nonchalantly at the fields and cows grazing on it, having lived here since 1998.

Walking into the woods on our way back to the house, I instantly felt completely calm. I noticed Legolas sighing with relief and looking utterly at home while under the trees as well. By the time we reached the back porch, it was already growing dark.

"So, what do you think of the Gillingham family farm?" I asked as we sat on my bed in my room.

"It's a very nice place," Frodo replied, slowly slinging his arm across my shoulders. I sighed with relief that Frodo didn't try touching the bottom of my back, since that place made me feel uncomfortable.

"Arkansas's better," I smiled, remembering how the landscape reminded me of a mixture between the hills and farmland of Oklahoma with the mountains and twisting roads of New Mexico.

"Is Arkansas another kingdom?" Frodo asked curiously.

I nearly fell into Frodo's lap from laughing so hard. The next second, coughs wracked my lungs and throat. Leaning up against Frodo, I prayed that I wouldn't hack up a lung as my body shuddered with each cough.

Surging forward suddenly, my stomach heaved and I gagged for a few seconds. Frodo rubbed my back in support, as my body finally settled down.

"Stupid breathing problems," I grumbled, secretly appreciating Frodo's hand on my back.

"Have you always had breathing problems?" Frodo asked worriedly.

"My whole life, and to answer your previous question, Arkansas is another state, but it's like a kingdom, only the place is ruled by a governor, not a king."

"Mr. Frodo, Miss Joy, supper's on the table, where are you?" Sam called worriedly from the kitchen. It was impossible to see my room from the kitchen.

"We're coming Sam," both Frodo and I called at the same time, scrambling down from the full sized bed and walking toward the dining room.

"There you are, I was worried about you two," Sam sighed with relief as all three of us walked into the house.

During dinner, I tried explaining to the fellowship how our country was ruled by governors and presidents instead of kings and queens. This of course got Dad into his monarchy speech, which lasted during the rest of dinner.

"I can't wait to spend the day with you tomorrow, Joy," Frodo smiled, taking my hand in his as everyone got ready for bed. I was touched by both his words and gesture, but knew I had to tell him the truth.

"That's sweet of you to say, Frodo, but we can't spend the whole day together."

"But why? I enjoy your company, did I do something wrong?" Bewilderment and hurt filled my crush's eyes as he asked me this.

"No of course not, Frodo, I love hanging out-spending time with you. But, I only stay at my parent's house on the weekends, then spend the weekday at college."

"Oh, what's college?"

"College is a school a person goes to when wanting to further his or her education in order to get a higher paying job than otherwise."

It looked like Frodo at least got the gist of what I was saying, even though he probably didn't completely understand what I meant.

"Hey, I'll be back next weekend, and I only have a few more weeks left of college since we're getting out early, then you can spend as much time as you want with me in two whole months." Frodo looked only slightly encouraged, but mostly disappointed at my words. I squeezed his hand gently, wishing there was some other way to cheer my crush up.

"I'll be back next Friday, I promise," I whispered loudly.

"Goodnight, Joy," Frodo spoke sadly as we approached my bedroom door.

"Goodnight, Frodo," I whispered, giving him a tight lipped smile.

Frodo imitated my smile as he walked through the door and closed it behind him. Leaning up against the door and sliding down it, I allowed myself to be engulfed by the warm feeling spreading through the inside of my body. If only Frodo realized how much I loved him and wished he'd feel the same way.

The warmth vanished to be replaced with a sinking feeling as I realized how stupid I was being. Frodo only thought of me as a friend, besides, he needed to go back to Middle Earth and complete his quest. 'But what about the promise you made to yourself?' a voice asked me.

That was a stupid promise made when I was still young and innocent, there would be no way I could go with Frodo to Mount Doom and back. Didn't Boromir say the very place was riddled with fire and ash, filled with poisonous fumes? I'd die the moment my lungs took in the foul air.

No, it was better to keep my feelings to myself, enjoy the time I had with the fellowship, then, once we figured out how to reverse my wish, to send them back where they belonged. As I thought this, I realized that I was going to live through heartbreak thanks to someone I fell in love with left me, one of the few fears I still had.

" Are you alright Miss Joy?"

I simply groaned in frustration as I stayed crouched at the bottom of my bedroom door. I heard Sam move near me and placed his hand on my shoulder. I reached for Sam's hand and gently squeezed it so he'd know I was still here.

"Miss Joy?" Sam repeated worriedly.

"Now I know what it's like to be a teenager," I sighed, wishing I didn't have to go through this.

"Beggin' your pardon, Miss Joy, but I don't know what you mean."

"Never mind, Sam," I sighed, standing up.

Grabbing onto Sam's arms as spots of yellow, red, green and blue blurred my vision, I waited for a few seconds for the light headed feeling to disappear. Cursing my breathing problems for the second time that day, I bade Sam a good night and made my way to the recliner.

The next morning was rush hour with getting ready and all my stuff in the car. Then, I was spending forty minutes telling Mom my feelings for Frodo and preparing myself for another week of lectures and homework, but couldn't wait for the weekend.


	7. Chapter 7: Don't Dream, It's Over

Chapter Seven-Don't Dream, It's Over

Dropping my backpack to the floor with a sigh of relief that classes were over and that I'd get some time to be by myself, I crawled onto my bed, propped my back up against the headboard, and dragged my laptop into my lap. Thankful that I could listen to music on youtube while at college, I put my headphones over my ears, searched for love lorn music videos, waited for the music video to load, and pressed play.

Because I am waiting for, praying for you, Darling

Wait for me too, wait for me as I wait for you

Because I am waiting for, praying for you, Darling

Wait for me too, wait for me as I wait for you

(Darling wait, Darling wait)

I've been searching for you ever since I was a little girl. I know you're out there somewhere, longing to meet me too, I thought as I listened to the song.

Darling did you know I dream about life together

Knowing you will be forever

I'll be yours and you'll be mine

And Darling when I say, "'til death do us part",

I'll mean it with all of my heart, now and always faithful to you.

Most little girls think of a beautiful white dress to wear, a decorated chapel and a huge reception afterwards when asked to describe their dream wedding. I expected that too, but I knew the party would only last for one day. What I most looked forward to was the male best friend and lover I would spend the rest of my life with.

Because I am waiting for, praying for you, Darling

Wait for me too, wait for me as I wait for you

Because I am waiting for, praying for you, Darling

Wait for me too, wait for me as I wait for you

(Darling wait, Darling wait)

The words of another song filled my head as I listened to this chorus, wherever you go, whatever you do, I will be right here waiting for you, whatever it takes, or how my heart breaks, I will be right here waiting for you

Now I know you may have made mistakes,

But there's forgiveness and a second chance.

So wait for me, Darling wait for me, wait for me, wait for me.

For some strange reason, the images of Frodo claiming the Ring and me comforting him afterwards came to mind.

Because I am waiting for, praying for you, Darling

Wait for me too, wait for me as I wait for you

Because I am waiting for, praying for you, Darling

Wait for me too, wait for me as I wait for you

(Darling wait, Darling wait)

My special guy, dear, love, don't stop searching for me, just like I won't stop looking for you.

As I waited for the next love lorn song to play after looking for it, I wondered why I wasn't married or had a boyfriend yet. It wasn't like I hadn't been trying. I've been searching for you for such a long time, where are you?

Maybe I should go back to my old boyfriend, at least he kissed and cuddled me. But you didn't feel safe with him. Your old boyfriend didn't respect you, that's why you dumped him in the first place.

The next song that played described exactly what I was currently going through, from the first paragraph to the last sentence. In fact, the song was so self-explanatory that I sang along with it, praying that no one would notice my butchered attempt to stay on key.

So glad no one can see what I hide deep inside

How it feels to be me,

The girl who never gets the right guy

Tell me why,

When there's so much I've got to give.

I wake up reaching out in the night

Ready to hold him tight

Till I realize that nobody is there. 

My friends seem to have all the luck

Feels like love knocks on their door and walks right in,

I know that I am worthy of what I've been wishing for

I can't wait no more

There's nowhere to be found

Feeling his tender touch

Talking about forever together

Giving him all my love

That's been trying to break free.

I want someone who loves me for me,

And when will it be,

Wonder when it will be me!

When will it be me?

When will I be the one somebody's dreaming of?

When's it gonna be?

When will I find my heart lying inside the arms!

I ask myself,

when will it be me? 

'But what about how I felt around Frodo?' I asked myself.

'You felt the same way about the guy you met at that party last spring and nothing came of it, just like nothing came of the first man you dated, what makes you think Frodo is any different?' a condescending tone asked.

'Frodo shares my love of books,' I pointed out.

'That's just a coincidence, Joy, Frodo only thinks of you as a friend, if even that. 'Frodo will die in four years time, why should you fall in love with him if the experience will bring you nothing but heartbreak? You've suffered through so much heartache over the years, why go through breaking up or losing a boyfriend when you can prevent yourself from emotional pain again?'

I gasped as I realized this. When I was a little girl, I thought being a teenager would mean being popular, pouring over fashion magazines with friends, going shopping, wearing makeup and going on dates with the worst heartache I'd suffer would be from breaking up with a boyfriend.

When I reached my teens, I still hated shopping for clothes and putting on makeup, was known as the geek in my class, didn't have a boyfriend because all of the boys in my class were immature jerks and at the time had to make life altering choices.

Now, in college, I got the privileges of dating that I didn't have in high school. The only problem was, I already suffered through so much that I was afraid to take my chances in the romantic department for fear that I'd get emotionally hurt again.

'Face it Joy, you'll never find that special male friend and lover to spend the rest of your life with because there isn't one and has never been one, it was all only a delusion everyone told you to aspire to, your dream is over. With those words resounding in my head, I burst into tears.

After my crying fit had passed, I soaked my tear stained face in a warm, wet, wash cloth and decided to call Frodo. Just as I thought I'd calmed down, I burst into tears again, which scared me a bit, since I didn't know why I was crying this time. The last time I cried for no reason was because of hormonal changes, and that was when I was twelve!

Once I calmed down, I began going over current events in my mind to see if I was stressed about any of them. I knew that the fellowship living in my house for who knew how long was stressful enough, but there was something that went with having fictional characters in my presence. Anything I knew about regarding these nine peoples futures had to be kept secret.

The thing that scared me was the last time I kept a big secret, it was to my own emotional and spiritual detriment. I needed to talk to the college campus councilor, no, she wouldn't believe me. Maybe I could talk to Mom or Dad about this problem.

But they were at work and hated to be interrupted. Besides, Mom and Dad would most likely agree that I'd need to keep the knowledge I knew about the fellowship a secret.

I decided to follow my heart's urges to call Frodo, even though my head was protesting in fear that I'd accidentally tell him everything I knew.

Dialing my home phone number, I took a deep breath, sure that I was calm enough to talk to someone without bursting into tears.

"Hello?" the lilting English accented voice I'd come to associate as Frodo asked cautiously. The second I identified my crushes voice, I burst into tears yet again.

"Dang it, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," I gasped out between my sobs, then ended the call. 'Great, of all the days of the year that Frodo has the first experience of talking on the phone with me, it has to be on the day that I'm an emotional wreck,' I thought sarcastically. 'Now, Frodo most likely thinks I'm an emotional burden.' This thought caused me to sob silently, not wanting to disturb my neighbors down the hall.

Emotionally spent, I let my mind carry me to the blessed darkness of oblivion until my stomach reminded me of dinner that evening.

The next morning, warm arms wrapped themselves gently but firmly around my waist, pulling me close to a manly chest.

"I love you," A male voice whispered tenderly in my ear.

"Mmm," I murmured in comfort as I snuggled closer to the warm body.

The secure arms slowly pulled away from my waist.

"Don't go, please stay, I begged, turning to my lover.

Blinking in surprise, I found that no one was lying next to me or standing beside my bed.

It was just a dream, but the dream felt so real, I could still feel the lingering sensation of strong arms wrapped around me.

Slowly getting out of bed, I prepared myself to face yet another monotonous day of classes and homework. If only dreams could become reality, but alas, my dream was over.

**Please Read and Review, the more reviews you give, the faster I'll update.**


	8. Chapter 8: Appreciated Obsession and An

*Steps cautiously into view. "Hi," waves tentatively. Ducks as things are thrown at her. Slowly steps back into view and timidly stands in front of audience.

First of all it wasn't completely my fault that I haven't updated until now. My email refused to show verification password emails, second, I've been very busy working and visiting relatives on both sides of my family.

I'm glad that everyone's enjoying my story, please keep reviewing. Without further ado, here's chapter eight.

Chapter Eight-Appreciated Obsession and An Unremembered Past Told

"Hey, guys, I'm home," I smiled as I hauled my backpack and hamper toward the music room. The moment I set my stuff in my room, I was tackled by Merry and Pippin to the floor. Giving the two trouble makers a tolerant smile, I took their offered hand and hauled myself from the floor.

The seven other members greeted me as they helped me haul in my other stuff. I was looking forward to spending time with my nine new acquaintances.

"Who's John? Frodo asked, pointing to the wreath above the window seat on the other side of the radio an hour later.

All excitement at hanging out with my new acquaintances vanished with this question.

"I was wondering when you were going to ask that," I spoke quietly. "John was my brother, we lost him."

"I'm very sorry for your loss. If it's not too much trouble, how did he die?"

"John got very sick with a stomach-" I stopped myself from saying virus, since I knew Frodo didn't know what a virus was.

"Sickness," I continued, "he only lived for a week."

Frodo squeezed my hand in sympathy at this and gazed at me with an understanding sadness in his eyes.

"Do you know what the one thing I don't understand about John's death is?"

"What?" Frodo asked gently.

"Why John died and I lived, by all rights I should have died, he was better than me."

"I thought my parents were better people than me and wondered why they died and I lived too. That's when Uncle Bilbo pointed out that my parents were inside me and they'd always be there," Frodo placed his hand on his heart as he said this. That wasn't what I meant, but I thanked him for his comforting words anyway.

"You were born to Primula Brandybuck Baggins and Drogo Baggins on September twenty second, two thousand twenty nine sixty eight, I'm not sure if you're birthday would be on the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth or twenty second by our time period, though. Maybe all four dates could be your birthday, so you can have four parties."Frodo smiled at this suggestion, seeming to like this idea.

"Your parents died in a boating accident on the Brandywine River when you were the Hobbit age of twelve, which would be the Human equivalent of eight, lived in Brandy Hall until you turned twenty one, which would have been about thirteen and a half years in Human age," I began, feeling excited at reciting these facts, but at the same time trying not to sound too cold, since this was someone's life I was talking about.

"You've lived with Bilbo ever since until his one hundred and eleventh birthday, which was also your thirty third, making Bilbo seventy one and you twenty one in our time. This was when Bilbo went to Rivendell to stay with the Elves and you found out about the Ring from Gandalf." I continued.

"Seventeen years later, you, Gandalf, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Borimor set out from Rivendell to destroy the Ring," I concluded.

"How do you know all of this about me?" Frodo gasped, astonished.

"Because I not only watched the movies, I also read the books," I explained, deciding not say how I was trying to survive the pain of my emotional wounds as I read through the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the first time, therefore, allowing me to relate to Frodo even more than how I would have otherwise.

"Joy, why don't you fix everyone roast chicken?" Mom suggested.

"Sure," I smiled, happy to show off one of the few recipes I could cook well.

"Joy, Mr. Frodo's awfully attracted to you romantically, if you take my meaning'" Sam pointed out, following me into the kitchen.

"Did he, I wondered if it was so, Sam," I replied sadly.

"Beggin' your pardon, Joy, but Frodo don't need no girl in his life, he already has enough to contend with what with the Ring and all."

"This journey is going to take a lot out of him, Mr. Frodo don't need to be suffering a broken heart when he gets back, he don't need to be hurt while staying here."

Having lived a week with all the pressure of putting up with fictional characters becoming real and staying at my house, keeping another secret that would eventually destroy me in the future and deciding if I should keep a promise I made that would end my life if I kept it on top of the regular stresses of college, I finally snapped. Stepping extremely close to Sam, I grabbed him by the shirt collar and looked him in the eye.

"Frodo's not the only one who's been hurt, Sam, I have too. In fact, I've just healed from the emotional wounds I received during my teenage years and am now just beginning to heal from the emotional wounds inflicted on me in childhood, so the last thing I need is to suffer from a broken heart either, understand?" I asked in the low, guttural voice I only used when trying to keep my temper in check, which was very rare to begin with, since I hardly ever got angry as it was.

A mixture of surprise, confusion and hurt swam in Sam's brown eyes. Realizing that I might have gone too far, I let go of Sam's shirt and stepped back.

"I'm sorry for taking my stress out on you, I've been under a lot of pressure lately."

"That's alright, is there anything I can do to help?" Sam asked, coming into the kitchen.

"Why don't you help set the table, Sam, I can roast the chicken by myself. The plates are in the china hutch," I directed pointing toward it in the dining room. "The silverware drawer is at the top middle and the glasses are in the cupboard above."

"I'm impressed that Sam's helping, I wish you'd help hosts when you go over to other people's houses," Dad called from the recliner in the living room. I glared in my dad's direction, trying to not take his criticism too personally.

"Of course, Dad's going to praise my friends and criticize me. He does it every time I have friends over. Of course, Dad's harder on family members than he is on anyone else," I grumbled.

"Your father loves you Joy," Sam reassured me as he reached into the silverware drawer. I shivered slightly, noticing how close he was to the knife drawer and repressing a particularly nasty memory of a daymare I had in the past.

"Frodo, as Joy's mom, I'd like to give you some advice." Mom's voice drifted from the music room, which was a few steps from the kitchen. I seasoned the chicken more slowly, and noticed Sam carefully getting the glasses so that we could both hear better.

"I'd be grateful for any advice you can give me, Ms. Gillingham," Frodo replied politely.

"I noticed the way you've been looking at my daughter."

"I assure you, I have every intention to display proper conduct while with your daughter."

"I know you do, you're not like most young men around here, Frodo. But it looks like you're developing a crush on Joy."

"What does crush mean?"

"That you're developing romantic feelings for her. That is fine, but, whatever you do, don't hurt Joy."

"I have no intention of hurting Joy in any way," Frodo assured my mom.

"I know, Frodo. Just don't break my daughter's heart; she's already experienced enough heartache."

"What do you mean, what kind of heartache has Joy been through?"

"I'll explain during dinner," Mom assured Frodo.

I felt tears spill from my eyes as I listened to Mom and Frodo's conversation. Unlike Frodo, I knew exactly what Mom was referring to. Mom meant all of my experiences, which I now felt weighing down on me, even the ones I couldn't remember.

"Miss Joy, you look ages older than you really are!" Sam gasped, staring into my eyes with something akin to wonder.

"I know I do Sam, that's because I have experiences of a woman twice my age."

"Beggin' your pardon, Joy, but I don't quite follow you."

Feeling the tears slip down my cheeks, I turned and attempted to wipe my eyes as Mom and Frodo walked into the dining room from the music room next door.

"Sam, I've been through so much in my life," I shook my head, deciding to leave it at that for right now.

"I'd expect you to be done by now, you're pokey slow," Dad commented.

"Begging your pardon, Mr. Gillingham, but we're trying to do a thorough job," Sam called, filling up the glasses while looking at the faucet with wonder. I smiled at Sam's comment. I knew then, just like how I had known when I had first watched the Fellowship of the Ring that Sam was going to be a very good friend of mine.

Dinner was soon prepared and everyone sat down to eat.

"I've never liked war movies, " I replied reflectively as I lightly salted the chicken we were eating.

"But you seemed to like The Fellowship of the Ring," Frodo pointed out, using his fork for emphasis.

"Yes, well, before you nine came along I hadn't minded watching the World War One based Lord of the Rings trilogy because I had known that it was a made up fantasy story. But now, you all not being fictional characters, and staying at our house, watching the war scenes in this movie would be like watching Private Ryan or any other war movie I had seen in my life, something I could only do once, due to the crushing weight of memories I couldn't remember, no matter how hard I tried, of a time when I had had to fight for my life when I hadn't known if I would be alive the next day."

The fellowship stared at me with extremely confused faces at this.

"Beggin' your pardon, Joy, but how can you have memories of barely survivin' and not remember them?" Sam asked.

"Why don't you tell them, the experiences happened to you," Dad suggested from the head of the table.

"But I don't remember them," I pointed out.

"But they happened to you."

"But I don't remember them."

"Did you hit your head too hard and now can't remember what happened to you in the past?" Merry asked.

"No," I smiled with amusement. "Those experiences happened to me when I was a baby."

"How can you have memories when you were a baby? A person can't remember their babyhood," Aragon pointed out.

"I'll tell the story," Mom announced, causing the whole fellowship to lean forward and sit on the edge of their seats in anticipation for a good story.

"Joy was born prematurely, her due date was May twenty first, but she was born February sixth, three months too early. Joy had to be poked and prodded several times, which is why she's afraid of needles, was given CPR because her heart almost stopped working, which is why she has a dent in the middle of her chest, and nearly died several times, hence her dislike of war movies."

That evening, I was again curled up on my recliner, sobbing yet again for being different from eberyone else.

"Joy, this is the second time you've cried in my presence, won't you help me relieve you of your burdens?"

"What do you know about my burdens?" I asked coldly, glaring at Aragorn's audacity, "what do you know about all I've suffered?"

"From what you're parents have told us during dinner, you've been through more than most people should bear."

"Aragorn, do you honestly think surviving prematurity was the only thing I've been through?" I snorted with laughter.

"What else could you have gone through?" I laughed bitterly at Aragorn's question.

"If you think that surviving prematurity is the only hard experience I've gone through, then you don't know me, goodnight Aragorn," I replied stiffly, rolling onto my other side and staring at the dining room table. Hearing Aragorn sighing in frustration and going back to bed, I breathed a sigh of relief and fell into an uneasy sleep.


	9. Chapter 9: In A Second

*Holds up hands in universal peace gesture* Life caught up with me, what with working, helping and packing for a mission trip. Hey, at least I update every few weeks or months instead of every few months or years like other authors do.

Do you know how frustrating it is to not find the chapter you're looking for, then, when you find it, only half of it is displayed, even though you remember writing the whole thing? This means I have to write the rest of it by memory.

This is besides dealing with the fact that 1-I haven't been on this site for a while, so I can't remember how to review, and 2-There have been updates, so I'm going to be confused for a while, see fact #1.

By the way, I hope this chapter is suspenseful enough for you, since I'm going to be spending two weeks in Alaska for the Mission Trip.

Anyway, here's the next chapter:

Chapter Nine: In A Second

"Your parents have been letting us listen to the classical station. What kinds of other music do people listen to here?" Merry asked as we all sat in the living room the next evening after we got the house cleaned and shopped for groceries.

"Well, there's pop-upbeat music, country-self explanatory, rock-loud music whose words are yelled, rap-poetry to a beat about drugs, sex, and poverty, contemporary-music that's a mixture of pop and a slower version of rock. There's a lot of smaller groups of music, but I think that's the basic categories of music here, as well as the music my parents and grandparents grew up listening to.

"What kind of music do you like to listen to?" Frodo asked.

"Well, my favorite categories are pop and contemporary with a little bit of rock and country, I can't stand rap, though."

"Do you have any of these pop and contemporary music with you?"

"Well, my favorite artists are Aly and AJ currently. I have the CD if you want to listen to it."

Popping the CD into my laptop, I allowed it to play as we listened to my Into the Rush CD and watched the hypnotizing swirl of colors from Windows Music Player. When the CD started to play the beginning of In A Second, I quickly switched it to the next song.

"That was a nice song, why did you change it?" Frodo asked, turning toward me.

"It hits a little too close to home," I replied, not wanting to wear my wounded heart on my sleeve. Leaving the CD running, I got up to go to the bathroom. When I was finished with my business, I noticed the very song I'd skipped playing. Frodo must have somehow clicked back to it, he was a fast learner, after all. Quietly creeping down the hall, I slid into my chair beside Frodo and waited for the heart wrenching song to finish.

Don't know how you feel

You seem to keep it to yourself.

Would you climb mountains,

To show me this is something real?

You're all the things I'm looking for,

Everything and so much more.

What I think, you are just perfect.

Could it be that I am worth it?

Is this thing an open door?

Walk right through to something more?

You and me

My life would change in a second, in a second.

Could it be?

Could it be?

You and me?

You and me?

Do I see? Do I see clearly?

Frodo's brow furrowed and he stared at the computer screen intently, so deep in that he didn't notice me shiver as the next song came on, reminding me of when I was almost kidnapped fourteen years ago. "I'm going outside for a walk," I replied, noticing my crush nod absently as he continued boring a hole into the computer screen with his eyes. Deciding to leave Frodo with his thoughts, I got up from the chair, walked the short distance to the front door, and went outside.

Wanting a private place to think, I headed toward the Family Rock, so named because everyone's name in the Gillingham family was carved in the sandstone hill. Having grown up in the mountains, I easily climbed the Family Rock and used the naturally made steps to drop down into my hideout. Climbing up into the tree like I did so many times when I was younger, I crawled onto a sturdy branch and sat down, staring at the water colored sunset as I thought about how much of my feelings I should reveal to Frodo. I didn't want to spill my heart out to Frodo, only to scare him away, but at the same time, Frodo deserved to know how I felt about him.

"Joy!" Aragorn's voice called from below the tree, making me nearly fall off the branch. Gripping the branch I was sitting on and one above my head, I righted myself and yelled where I was. Climbing up the tree, Aragorn sat next to me and also stared at the now fading sunset.

"How did you find me?" I asked curiously, knowing that I hadn't shown Aragorn my secret hiding place, or anyone else for that matter.

"I followed your tracks, I am a Ranger, after all," Aragorn pointed out, making me feel slightly embarrassed.

"Oh, right," I replied uncomfortably.

"I find a long walk or a private place the perfect way to sort through my emotions," Aragorn added.

Deciding to test Aragorn's trust level, knowing that it wouldn't hurt me too much if others knew, since I still had time to make my decision, I told Aragorn something that I was worried about.

"Aragorn, remember when I told you that I was born prematurely?"

"Yes," Aragorn nodded, giving me his full attention.

"Well, when the Fellowship of the Ring movie first came out in theaters, I made a promise to myself when the movie ended."

Stopping, I gathered my courage with my breath and plunged on.

"You have to understand that I was determined to keep my promise because I wanted to join the adventure you all were experiencing, but at the same time, I knew in the back of my mind that my wish wasn't likely to happen. Now, ten years later, here you are, and I have to decide whether to keep the promise I made to myself so many years ago, or let it go."

"What was your promise?"

Feeling tears fill my eyes, I replied, "I promised that I'd follow-the fellowship-all the way to Mount Doom, but if I do that I'll die!" To my own horror, I burst into tears and inwardly berated myself for my lack of self control.

I expected Aragorn to tell me to stop crying, or to leave me by myself, but he surprised me by putting an arm around my shoulders and drawing me to him. I leaned up against Aragorn as he did this, grateful that he did this as I now knew that I could trust him.

"I don't know what advice to give but this, follow your heart, and do what you know is right. Each of us in the fellowship know there's a possibility that we'll die before the Ring is destroyed, but we still decided to go out into Middle Earth and try to save our world. The Fellowship will support you whatever you decide, Joy."

I nodded, taking in Aragorn's wise council to my heart and storing it for further reflection later on.

"Well, I think I've had enough fresh air for tonight, how about you?"

"Yeah, I guess we'd better head back to the house before my parents send a search party," I smirked, wiping my eyes with a left over tissue. "How do I look?"

"You look like a princess, and have the heart of one," Aragorn replied, raising his chin in a noble gesture. As I watched Aragorn jump down from the branch we were sitting on, I smiled, knowing that this man would make a wonderful king.

Aragorn and I walked back to the house in silence as I wondered how to admit my romantic feelings to Frodo. As we made our way to the front step, I noticed Frodo standing in front of the screen door, waiting for us. Leaving Frodo and I alone, Aragorn

"Joy, may I speak with you?" Frodo's aquamarine blue eyes shifted with nervousness as Aragorn walked inside, closing the door behind him.


	10. Chapter 10: Could You Love Me With Time?

Authors Note: There are _still_ only twelve reviews when I left you all a cliffhanger while I went on my Alaska Mission Trip for **ten days**? Is anyone even interested in my story anymore? If no one's reading my story, then why am I taking the time to post it when I could be spending my time working on other things? Not getting any new reviews is pretty depressing. It's hard enough writing stories and knowing you won't get any feedback on them for at least a year, it's even worse when you have to work doubly hard to stay in cannon as much as possible while writing an original, possible story in the fandom. I just want readers to see this situation from my point of view.

On a brighter note, I'm surprised that the film crew didn't use Alaska as their set for Lord of the Rings, the geography was that good! Coming back to Oklahoma from Alaska is like going from Technicolor back to black and white TV.

Hopefully, everyone's just busy right now, or maybe I'm just being overly optimistic. P.S. I'll probably continue posting, albeit sparingly, but, it just would be nice to get some new reviews, is all I'm saying.

Chapter Ten: Could You Love Me With Time?

"Joy, may I speak with you?" Frodo's aquamarine blue eyes shifted with nervousness.

"Okay," I replied, automatically heading toward the living room.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to talk with you in private."

It was the word private that made me freeze. The last time I was alone with a guy, the relationship became uncomfortable way too fast, making me break up with the man soon afterward due to him not respecting my morals. The first time was when a boy tricked me into kissing him behind his house when I was in fourth grade. Needless to say, I was worried about what would happen if we were outside by ourselves.

"Let's sit on the front step," I suggested, reasoning that if anything happened, someone could hear me yell.

"Are you all right?" Worry flickered in Frodo's eyes as he asked this.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because you're nervous," Frodo was looking pointedly at my hands as I stripped a nail from one of my fingers as he observed this.

"I'll be fine," I replied, holding my right hand over my left wrist to keep from continuing my nervous habit.

Sitting on the concrete step, I tilted my head back.

"I like looking at the stars," I smiled, marveling at the night sky.

"Yes, it's a beautiful night," Frodo agreed.

"I can't see them at the college I go to on the weekday," I replied sadly. Not seeing the stars was the one thing I missed about living on the college campus.

"How can you not see the stars there?"

"The street lights block out the twinkling stars."

Frodo stared at me with curiosity in his eyes.

"Forget it, I'm sure you wanted to talk about something else besides the night sky."

"Yes, I'm grateful that you took us all into your family house, especially since you don't personally know us."

"Yeah, well, I felt like it was the right thing to do," was this all Frodo wanted to say? Why did he want to speak with me in private then?

"I'm not finished yet."

"Okay."

"When I lived in the Shire I never found any lasses attractive enough to marry."

"Wait, you weren't attracted to females because, oh my gosh, your gay!"

"Well, I was gay when living with Uncle Bilbo, I mean he provided me with a quiet home life."

"That's not what I meant," I muttered, not believing that we were going to have this type of conversation again.

"Then what did you mean?"

"I mean, are you attracted to other males?"

"You mean like in those, slash stories?"

"Yeah," I nodded.

"No, good heavens no! None of the lasses in the Shire were intellectually or personally interesting to me."

"Yeah," I grinned, "I know exactly what you mean."

"You do?" Frodo's eyes lit up with hope at my sentence.

"Yes, most of the boys in my class were immature jerks, and I haven't found the right kind of guy while going to college so far."

"Jerks?"

"Um, I believe people in your time call them scoundrels."

"Why did you think these boys were scoundrels, jerks?"

"Well, I got a note-letter-from Brendan, the class clown. He was a lot like your cousin Pippin, anyway, through his note, Brendan asked me to the prom, a kind of ball for high schoolers. I decided to give him a chance. I later found out through another letter from Brendan that his friend Tyler was the one who wanted to ask me out. Furious that I was being lied to, I gave Brendan a short lecture about lying to me, but thanked him for telling me the truth."

"Now I know what your mom meant when she said you've been through heartache," Frodo whispered quietly. I resisted my urge to tell him the other heartaches I've been through, it was best not to overwhelm him. As I thought this, we walked back inside.

To distract myself, I grabbed my bag of scrapbook material and began organizing it. Opening the scrapbook, I wrote my name on the lines under the word bride on the wedding announcement and slipped it between the plastic and white colored cardboard.

"Is that like the red book that Uncle Bilbo writes his stories into?" Frodo asked, pointing to the photo album, pieces of paper and stickers scattered around the living room coffee table I was working on.

"Oh, no, Frodo, this is the scrapbook I'll give to my very special guy during the reception. The man I'll marry on my wedding day," I explained at Frodo's confused look.

"Ahh, and what does your scrapbook contain?"

"The wedding date, our names, favorite love songs, qualities I look for in a guy, stuff like that."

"Whoever marries you will be a very lucky man," Frodo replied wistfully.

"Yes, very lucky indeed," I replied quietly, disregarding yet another song that wouldn't fit into the scrapbook.

"Why don't you put this one in, it's very nice," Frodo commented after reading the song's lyrics.

"I wish I could, but there's a limited amount of room in this scrapbook, so I have to choose my most favorite songs to put in here."

"What's your favorite song?"

"Most of these songs are my favorite, but my new favorite is Ordinary Love by Mymp.

"How does it go?"

"Well, I don't know all the words, and I can't sing very well, but it goes something like this, just another ordinary day mmm, mmm, mmm, mmmm, mmmm, mmmm, mmmm, this is not your ordinary, no ordinary love. I was not prepared enough to fall so deeply in love. This is not your ordinary, no ordinary love, you were the first to touch my heart and everything's right again with your extraordinary love."

"That's beautiful, is there more?"

"Yeah, the words are very beautiful, I just can't remember all of it."

"No, that too, but your voice is beautiful as well."

I felt myself blush at this. I'm known not being able to sing on tune, so to have someone say I sang beautiful was a very big deal for me.

"Can I keep this page?"

"Sure, if you want to," I shrugged.

"What date would you want your wedding day to be?"

"Valentine's Day."

"What's Valentine's day?"

"It's the day for couples to celebrate like giving each other flowers and chocolates and going out."

"Going out?"

"Dating," I supplied.

"Dating, you mean those salted nuts people eat?"

"No Frodo," I giggled, "I guess the old fashioned word would be courting."

"I haven't courted before," Frodo admitted.

"You're kidding right? With your curly dark brown hair, light blue eyes, straight nose, strong jaw line, cleft chin and slender body, you're a regular heartthrob, you're hot!"

I immediately wanted to take back what I said. I'd probably embarrassed him.

"It feels fine to me."

I wished I could just sink through the couch, as I explained what I meant.

"No, you misunderstood me, Frodo. Hot is another word for handsome."

"Joy, are you saying I'm handsome?"

"Extremely so. I bet you were the most attractive bachelor lad in all of the Shire."

Frodo blushed at this comment, then turned pensive.

"You know, I never thought of marrying and having children, I thought I'd spend my whole life as a bachelor."

"I've wondered the same thing. I mean, I'm twenty four, the age most women marry and have children." I squirmed by the uncomfortable feeling twisting in my stomach.

"People come of age at twenty four here?" Frodo asked sounding shocked.

I laughed loudly at this, the irony of what Frodo just said making his sentence very amusing to me.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No, it's just, people come of age at eighteen!"

"Oh, and you're twenty four?"

"Yes," I replied, wondering where Frodo was going with this.

"Well, no female has made me feel the way I feel about you."

"How do you feel about me?" I asked, beginning to strip a nail off another of my fingers.

"In a way I've never felt for any female before, like sunlight's filling my chest and shining toward my arms and legs. Joy, I think I'm falling in love with you."

I stared in shock at this, his description mirroring my own feelings for his. Another case of ice froze my heart as I realized that we both loved each other. No, no this wasn't happening, I can't fall in love with Frodo Baggins, he'll have to go back to his world soon, whenever that was, and will leave me again! The last time Frodo Baggins left was when I saw him climb onto the ship headed toward the Grey Havens at the end of The Return of the King.

"I may be bold in saying this, and I know this is very soon, but couldn't you love me with time?"

I lost Frodo once, as a friend, I tried to imagine what losing him again would be like and pressed a few fingers to my chest as I felt a few inches of my heart tear open and begin to bleed. The idea of losing the same person that I developed romantic feelings for after all the pain and suffering I experienced in my life when I was beginning to finally heal from my past emotional wounds would mean I'd have to suffer through the same emotional pain I went through in 2007! This realization brought tears to my eyes.

"Why do you cry Joy, is it something I said?"

"I, I don't think I can return your love, Frodo." As Frodo's eyes sunk with disappointment, I decided to explain myself. "It's not that I don't feel the same way about you as you do about me. It's just, I can't," noticing I was about to cry as the ball of water was constricting my throat, I decided to follow my instincts and run.

"I have to go."

Scrambling up from the couch, I ran to my room, I slammed the bedroom door, and crawled onto my full sized bed. Curling up in a fetal position, I hugged the closest pillow and sobbed into it.

When I was a little girl I thought being a teenager meant hanging out with friends, poring over fashion magazines, shopping for clothes and make-up, dating and breaking up with boyfriends. During my actual teenage years, however, I had to make choices of life or death, so it wasn't until my college years that I could experience the privileges that most teenagers experienced. But, now that I got to experience everything that I should have during my adolescence, the idea of suffering from break ups, which could only be compared to the hurt I felt four years ago terrified me.

It was most likely because I had been thinking so much about Frodo leaving that the Grey Havens scene played in my mind.

"It is time, Frodo," Gandalf said gently. Merry, Pippin and Sam turned to Frodo in bewilderment.

"What does he mean?" Sam asked with worry.

"We set out to save the Shire Sam, and it has been saved," Frodo explained sadly, "but not for me."

"You can't leave," Sam gasped, tears filling his eyes.

"The last pages are for you, Sam," Frodo handed the red book to Sam as he said this.

After embracing each of the three hobbits in turn, Sam's hug being the longest, Frodo tenderly kissed Sam's forehead, took Gandalf's hand, and walked up the plank. Pausing for a few minutes, Frodo smiled at Merry, Pippin and Sam innocently, and then nodded as he walked the rest of the way onto the ship. Merry, Pippin and Sam smiled back, then the two cousins turned around as Sam watched the ship sail toward the sunset.

I must have fallen asleep, because the next minute I found myself on that same dock, with Frodo standing in front of me, wearing the same silver vest he wore in the film.

"You can't help me anymore, Joy," Frodo replied sadly, sounding just like he did before telling Sam to go home.

"Yes I can, I made a wish to have the same kind of adventure you did and I have, I know what it's like to suffer and not know when the emotional pain will end."

Frodo threw back his head and laughed bitterly at this, the sound twisting my heart. "You only experienced emotional pain for three months. I had to suffer through it for thirteen. You're pain is only that of a child's compared to mine. You know nothing of what I suffer every moment of my life."

Looking down, I noticed my body was covered in scars and bruises. As Frodo spoke, I saw my chest tear open, and some invisible hand rip my still beating heart from my own chest. Pain filled my heart, as the invisible hand squeezed until it bled, then began crushing my heart until it was a nearly undistinguishable pulp.

As Frodo walked up the plank of the Grey Havens ship without looking back, my heart, raw like an opened wound, now on the ground in front of me, bled profusely, and I knew, unlike the last time I felt this much emotional pain, that, like the Elves, I would die of a broken heart.

Gasping, and sitting bolt upright, pain exploded above my eyes as Frodo and I rammed our foreheads together. After rubbing my forehead, I noticed Frodo staring down at me with a mixture of fear, worry and concern.

"You were having a nightmare," Frodo explained as he lay down next to me on my bed, facing my back.

"Joy, please tell me what I said that made you so upset to run off like that," Frodo's soft spoken voice begged as I felt the ball of water explode near the back of my throat and hot tears stream down my cheeks.

I slowly turned to Frodo, fearful of how my acquaintance would react once he saw my tear stained face. I was expecting Frodo to keep on pushing the subject until I told him or say not to cry. Instead, Frodo reached across my body and began rubbing my back in small gentle circles.

How does Frodo know that rubbing my back like this is my favorite kind of comfort when crying, I wondered as I relished in Frodo's tender touch. The pain I felt in my nightmare exploded right then as I wailed in Frodo's arms.

"It was you who was crying over the phone last Monday!" Frodo gasped a half hour later.

"Yes, Frodo, that was me," I admitted, finally calming down enough to speak, even though my breath hitched slightly.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought I'd be a burden if I did."

"You'll never be a burden to me, never."

I hugged Frodo tightly at this. Now that I showed Frodo my weakest moment and he didn't push me away, I trusted him completely.

"Joy, what made you so upset to run off like that?"

"I don't want to lose you," I admitted.

"What do you mean?" Frodo asked, looking and sounding like he did when talking with Gandalf about evil from both outside and inside the fellowship. Frodo never looked more innocent than he did now. Frodo's look touched me and reminded me just how little the fellowship knew about this world.

"I don't know how long you all will be here, but you'll have to go home sometime, and when you do, I'll have developed very close friendships with all of you." This was a slight lie, as I doubted Borimor and I would be friends, but we'd most likely become acquaintances.

"Do you think of me as a friend?"

"Yes, as a very dear friend and possibly something more." At Frodo's encouraging look, I went on.

"When I look at you, it feels like the sun is in my chest, its rays shining toward my arms and legs."

"So you share these strong feelings that I feel when I look at you, the kind I've never felt for anyone before?"

"Yes."

The moment I said this, Frodo hugged me. I clutched Frodo, feeling only somewhat relieved.

"But how long is this going to last?" I asked worriedly.

"Well, though I'll have to go back eventually, let's not think about that right now."

"There's a saying that goes it's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all, I think I'm beginning to understand what it means."

"I like that saying, it describes us."

We both leaned toward each other at the same time and our lips touched in a kiss. Feeling Frodo's sweet tasting lips and the sunlight exploding all over my body like electricity as my insides seemed to float like when I'm lightheaded, all of the descriptions I've been told when asking how to know when I've fallen in love with the right man, was when I knew I truly loved Frodo. Knowing that Frodo returned my feelings made this kiss the best I'd ever had.


	11. Chapter 11: The Decision of a Lifetime

Once Upon A Time: Taking Chances Chapter Eleven –The Decision of a Lifetime

**Author's Note: Hey everybody, long time no see. I know I should have updated much earlier, but one of my original story plotlines and this one's climax were identical, which got a little strange for me. I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated this story. Wow, now I know why Shelly and Sarah said that the characters based on them in the past and the people they are today are so different. So much has happened between the time I first wrote this story and now! After working for my dad for the rest of the summer, I went back to college and graduated with a B.A. in English. I worked full time as my mom's personal assistant, which meant being her driver and her receptionist, for the whole summer. Then, I got called to the ministry and started going to a brand, new university for my graduate degree, which meant moving to the big city from the small city sized town where I'd just graduated from! I decided to get an apartment near the university, which means driving my grandparents old car when I'm not walking the ten miles to classes, getting used to a higher level of work, working hard to get good grades, studying for finals, buying groceries for the first time in my life, cooking for myself, keeping my apartment clean, and right now, searching for a summer job! Oh yeah, I can base Frodo and Joy's relationship on real life experience, than just my imagined, perfect one in my own mind now, because my neighbor and I are getting to know each other and becoming very close! Although he (I'm not telling you the guy's name, the man has enough on his plate, he doesn't need to be harassed by a bunch of fan girls) has brown hair instead of dark brown hair, normal sized feet , doesn't read as much as I do, and lives in today's society instead of some fantasized past, the wonderful man shares many characteristics of Frodo. At the moment, we're just friends, but I hope our friendship will blossom into something more, over time. We'll see how that goes. This week I had to chauffeur my mom because her car broke down, then help dad round up and sort cattle, then meet with an advisor about my career training and apply for scholarships, then meet with the district superintendent about my future career, then meet with the Wal-Mart manager in the hopes of getting a job, then help my mom with recycling all of the magazines we collect throughout the year, then help my dad with harvest. **

**Twenty one reviews, wow, thanks guys! Please tell others about this story after reading and reviewing it. Sure, I like writing this story, but reading reviews of how much everyone likes my story and their excitement at my next chapter makes writing the next chapter feel worthwhile. Anyway, on with the story-Just to warn anyone reading this, following the directions in this chapter when a person has a high fever will not guarantee the sick person to stay alive: **

Once Upon A Time: Taking Chances Chapter Eleven –A Life Changing Decision

I looked forward to getting to know Frodo more personally, the second weekend into the fellowship's stay at my parents house. However, the moment I walked in the door, my hopes were dashed. Sam ran toward me the second he saw me, his eyes wide with worry.

"Oh, Miss Joy, you've got to help mister Frodo! He's been sick this week and everything we've done to help him isn't-"

" This illness is beyond my skill to heal, do you have any Elvish medicine like the round stone like object your mother calls pills?" Aragorn asked, interrupting Sam.

"Elvish medicine? We don't have Elvish medicine, we have Tylenol, Advil, and Ibuprofen, though," I replied.

"We already gave Frodo those medicine's alternately but his fever hasn't gone down!" Legolas exclaimed, a worry I hadn't seen in his deep blue eyes filling them.

I felt my face grow cold from losing color at this news, "let me see him," I demanded, marching toward the guest room he was staying in. The sight I saw when I opened the bedroom door was not a pretty one. Frodo lay in the middle of the bed with the sheets twisted around his arms, legs, and waist. His skin was pale and glistening with sweat, his eyes held that dull, lifeless look I was accustomed to seeing in myself when I'd get sick, yet stood out with bright intensity. I felt like someone had suddenly dumped a bucket of cold water on top of me underneath my skin as I stared at Frodo as he looked at me with something akin to amazement.

"Mother?" Frodo asked as he reached for me.

"I'm not your mother, Frodo," I told the hobbit gently. Turning to Aragorn and Sam, who were standing behind me, sharing worried looks, I began directing them in what needed to be done. "Aragorn, Sam, unwrap Frodo from those blankets and carry him into the bathroom. Set him into the bathtub and run cold water into the tub, then let him soak in there for twenty minutes. We need to get the fever to break, obviously the medicine and cloth aren't working," I explained, grabbing the lukewarm washcloth from Frodo's forehead and going into the music room to not be in Aragorn and Sam's way.

Picking up Frodo, Aragorn from the arms, Sam from the legs, both carried him into the bathroom. Peeking from the hallway, I saw Aragorn and Sam set Frodo into the tub and run cold water into it. Once the tub was halfway full, I gently pulled both friends out of the bathroom, to the dining room, where everyone else was waiting at the table. Leap toward the cordless phone, I quickly dialed 911, and held my breath as the dispatcher said "911 what is your emergency?"

"Yes, my name is Joy, and I have a friend who's very sick, he has a high fever that won't go down even though we've tried alternatively giving him Tylenol, Advil, and Ibuprofen, as well as soaking him into cold water."

"We'll send an ambulance right away, what's his name?"

Knowing I couldn't lie to an emergency dispatcher, and figuring she'd believe me, since people have had more unusual names than Frodo, I replied "Frodo Baggins."

Roars of a loud sound was heard over the other end of the line as I accidentally hit a button on the phone, making what was being heard on the other line reverberate around the house.

"Are you laughing at me?" I asked, incredulously, "she's laughing at me!" I exclaimed, turning to the fellowship in shock.

"I've heard many prank calls in my time, but this one has been the best I've ever heard in a long time!" the dispatcher giggled.

"This is not a prank call," I yelled, growing angry at not being believed, as well as desperate in what to do in this situation.

"The next time you call, come back with a real emergency, and not some made up story about a sick, made up character," the dispatcher scolded before hanging up on me. I stared at the now bussing cordless phone in disbelief.

"What was that about?" Merry asked from the dining room.

"I thought someone could help Frodo, but it looks like she can't," I replied faintly, still shocked that an emergency dispatcher wouldn't believe a life threatening situation when she heard one.

"How is he, Laddies and Lassie?" Gimli asked, stopping his pacing around the dining room table to ask Aragorn, Sam and I.

"Not good, if we can't get Frodo's fever to go down, we'll have to take him to the hospital," I explained in short, clipped tones, my own worry showing through my snappy sounding voice. "How long has he been sick?"

"Since you've left," Merry explained.

"Do you think Frodo's sick from a broken heart with you being gone all week?" Pippin asked.

"Don't be stupid, Pippin," Merry berated his cousin, "it takes months to die of a broken heart, Joy's only just met him," I nodded in agreement with this statement.

"Can Frodo die of a broken heart?" Sam, asked, peering down into my face with worry written all over his.

"I doubt it, unless if Frodo's been going without food or water along with not having an interest in seeing anybody but me. He hasn't, has he?" I asked, shivering at the thought of someone once in love dying from depressed dependency. The fellowship assured me that besides a loss of appetite which was normal from getting sick, that Frodo didn't show any symptoms of heart sickness. "It's probably from being in a new environment with diseases you all aren't familiar with," I reasoned.

"What if Frodo's fever doesn't break?" Merry asked.

"We'll take him to the hospital in the city," I hesitating answered this, knowing what we'd have to do would be dangerous, "the ones here aren't well equipped to handle severe cases like Frodo's," I explained. "A House of Healing," I added at the fellowships confused looks. The fellowship nodding in understanding, we all waited in silence for what felt like an eternity, which was only ten minutes, then rushed toward the bathroom. I'm sure you can guess what happened next with all of us trying to get through the thin doorways, and so falling all over one another.

Once I disentangled myself from the pile of people on the floor, I rushed to the bathroom, only to see Frodo sick as I saw him when I first got home. Closing the bathroom door, I turned to the fellowship behind me.

"Family meeting," is all I could say, before going to the living room, where as many of them who could sat on the couch, with Aragorn and Sam in the green chairs and I pacing in circles in front of them.

"Frodo hasn't gotten any better, he should be shivering by now, but instead he looks the same as he did when I saw him when I got home," I explained, worriedly.

"We have to take Frodo to this hospital Joy was telling me about," Aragorn advised.

I felt fear freeze my insides at this suggestion. "But I've never driven in the city before, it could be dangerous, very dangerous!" I exclaimed, worry lacing through my words.

"Do you have any other medicine to give Frodo which would bring his fever down?" Legolas asked.

"No," I admitted, my shoulders slumping at my loss of options.

"Would you rather Frodo die because you didn't take the risk to save him?" Aragorn asked. I imagined a dead Frodo which we would hold a funeral service for and the guilt I would carry to my own grave because I would not have done the right thing, and shook my head in the negative.

"Well, that's settled then, Lassie, we will take Frodo to this hospital and hope the healers will make Frodo better," Gimli spoke gruffly.

Taking a deep breath, and knowing that I would be in trouble with my parents soon afterward for this as soon as they found out, I began giving directions yet again, for what we needed to do, with a vote cast for one or two of the fellowship to stay at the house and explain to my parents where the rest of the fellowship and I went. The hobbits refused to be left behind, and Aragorn had some healing skills, so he could understand and somewhat what was going to happen. Gimli and Legolas refused to be left in the house together, giving each other death glares at the suggestion. Knowing that Gimli would somewhat like the tall, towering buildings, while Legolas would be miserable in such cramped quarters surrounded by concrete, it was decided that Gimli would come with us, while Legolas would stay at home.

With this decided, we all piled into my truck, with Frodo resting on Sam and Aragorn's lap in the front seat, and the hobbits and dwarf in the back. Ignoring Gimli's grumbling about being stuck in the middle, and making sure that everyone had their seat belts fastened, a feat in itself in the front passenger seat, I started the truck, backed it in the front yard, and took off down the road. I didn't have any incident whatsoever until I got to the highway that branched off to the city. Taking a deep breath, and sending up a short prayer asking for safety, I turned onto the very busy highway.


End file.
